Published on August 28, 2006 - Units cost 30% more than Phase 1

With the success of the first phase of its Metropark condominium project in New Sathorn Road in Thon Buri, Property Perfect has embarked on a second estate with the same name.

The first phase with 950 units is on a 17-rai plot, while the new phase will be built on a separate 10-rai plot housing 700 units.

Prices in the second phase are 30 per cent higher than the first, starting from Bt1.3 million for a 31-square-metre studio.

The earlier studios were selling for Bt950,000.

But the current phase will include a set of furniture for buyers, as well as the air-conditioners and fittings featured in first-phase properties.

The swimming pool in Phase 2, however, will be much bigger.

With Metropark, Property Perfect has joined the move by seasoned developers to tap the middle-class market, largely with estates in the outer Bangkok suburbs.

The luxury sector is currently adjusting to a glut of supply and fierce competition, while the affordability scale of such homes is far beyond the means of the average home-buyer.

The middle-range market, largely neglected during the early part of the current housing boom, covers prices from Bt1 million to Bt5 million.

Middle-segment buyers now form the biggest slice of real users in need of affordable shelter.

As with similar projects launched over the past year by Asian Property, Supalai and Plus Property Partners, Metropark is selling into a buoyant segment.

The middle class has been buying furiously throughout the past eight months of political strife, ignoring stock market sell-offs and predictions of doom.

Both Supalai and Asian Property are expecting their net profit this year to outstrip last year's records on the back of such mid-income home sales.

Property Perfect is also expected to gain with Metropark, as the medium-rise towers with just eight floors are easy to construct. As the homes are not too expensive, the chance of default is also fairly reduced.

The first estate has started construction, while the new phase should be completed in 2008.

Metropark lies across the Taksin Bridge, past Sathorn Tower, about 4.5 kilometres away from the river in Bang Wa, in Bangkok's Phasi Charoen district.

Metropark offers three types of units: studios, and both one- and two-bedroom homes. The floor space is 31, 41 and 58 square metres, respectively.

Property Perfect has a sales office at Zuelig House on Silom Road, where home-buyers can view mock-up units of Metropark.

The office is on the third floor of the building, near the Dusit Thani Hotel.

While commuting today requires a car or buses, the site expects a BTS Skytrain station to be built close to the project in the near future, tentatively in 2008.

The planned route was recently approved after political wrangling last year, which placed party interests over national ones.

Itthi C Tan
The Nation