Every mother should be told about Bambi Bangkok – A charitable organisation especially for mothers with young children living in Bangkok. It offers support groups for new mothers, single mothers, women without partners and even has a monthly dinner outing for working or stressed out moms who need a break from their family! I join then occasionally

The Bambi website has all sort of information and details of upcoming events including their fantastic bring and buy sale, monthly working mother’s dinner gathering and a very comprehensive classifieds section where you can buy and sell all kinds of stuff, in particularly baby stuff.

If you, like many others are having trouble finding a maid you can trust, try Goodwill Bangkok – a charitable organisation that helps disadvantaged women improve themselves. They offer these girls free English lessons, computer training and support in finding a better life in Bangkok.

I have found a couple of maids through them over the years, and they have always proven trustworthy and pleasant. They do not take any commission but rather are just glad you gave one of their girls a chance. Visit Goodwill Bangkok for more details

Many people ask, “what’s the difference between an apartment and a condo in Bangkok?” Well, condos are individually owned units whilst an apartment is a block of rental units owned by a company, family or individual.

There are, of course pros and cons to renting an apartment over condo and hopefully this article will shed some light on the apartment versus condo rental issue, and help you with your final decision.

Rental prices

When it comes to price, I don’t think it differs very much whether it’s an apartment or condo. The rental rate is usually determined by the location, age and grade of building, size of unit, number of bedrooms, facilities, décor and furnishing.

For a guide on what your rental budget will buy, click here.

Utility bills.

Now, this is where the main disadvantage lies in renting an apartment over a condo. Apartments tend to have a minimum charge for water (usually around 1000 baht per month) and a surcharge on electricity (around 5 – 6 baht a unit compared to the 3.5 baht charged by the MEA). All this can amount a hefty difference in utility bills at the end of every month.

I live in a 3 storey townhouse with a family of 6 and my water bill has never exceeded 500 bht a month, ever. We do a lot of washing and drinking too!

Building management fees

These fees apply more for condominiums since apartments have already accounted for their operating cost in their rates. This is usually around 40 baht per square metre and most of the time; this fee has already been included in the rent. However, if you got you a really good deal i.e. a nicely furnished 95 sqm 2 bedroom in the CBD for 25,000 baht/month, then it’s likely that your landlord will not be paying the building mgt. fee for you. I think that’s reasonable enough.

Others

At the end of the day, whether you are renting an apartment or a condo, who you rent it from is extremely important. With condo owners, I feel that it’s a lot easier to negotiate on the rent since these individuals can be more flexible, compared to an apartment which charges standard rates that are usually non-negotiable. However, finding a suitable condo for rent is a little trickier on your own since you’ll have to know where there is a unit for rent and the owner’s contact. That is where property agencies like Bangkok Finder can help you.

The other thing is maintenance. It’s definitely a lot more convenient if you are living in an apartment since there is usually an in house maintenance guy hired by the building at hand. However, I know of many condo owners who take very good care of their property and have their own handyman who usually respond within a day. The cost can be foot by the landlord or the tenant depending on the initial agreement. Again, the cheaper the rent, the more you’ll have to account during your lease tenure.

Apart from that, apartments and condos offer 24 hour security and feel safer for most, compared to living in a house. There is also NO chance of flooding inside your home, which is a major concern for most people looking to rent or buy in Thailand.

That’s about it really! Ready to start your search? Here are apartments for rent and condos for rent in Bangkok.

The Bangkok property market remains in line with overall Asia-Pacific trends, according to the latest Jones Lang LaSalle Asia-Pacific property digest.

This is in spite of a softening market outlook due to political and economic uncertainty, said Thailand managing director Suphin Mechuchep.

The digest reported robust Asia-Pacific growth was fuelling new businesses and corporate expansion in key markets, which had seen big rent increases, rising wages, and a growing middle class in emerging markets – underpinning the retail market.

Thailand’s strong market fundamentals mean rents continue to rise in the office and retail sectors, although at a slower pace, the digest said.

The Bangkok property market will likely regain momentum in 2008 if political dust settles following a general election planned for this December.

In the region, robust economic growth is driving demand for office space. The bulk of recent leases have been for finance, insurance, real estate and business-support service companies.

Demand from banking and fund-management companies is strong in the financial centres of Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo, resulting in some markets posting the best rents in 20 years.

“Rents are likely to stay buoyant with new supply low in the short term,” Jones Lang LaSalle head of Asia-Pacific research Jane Murray said.

This is prompting some companies to relocate non-core operations to more affordable locations. This is the case in Hong Kong and Singapore, where the company noted an increasing level of leasing activity in fringe areas and industrial properties, Murray said.

In addition to the trend of relocating non-core operations to contain costs, strong exports from Japan, South Korea, China and many of the Southeast Asian countries have contributed to a revival in the industrial segment, particularly for hi-tech space and logistics centres.

On the investment front, the global appetite for real-estate assets remains exceptionally strong. Factors driving this demand include significant growth in retirement savings, increased allocations to real estate by institutions, improving real-estate transparency and large balance-of-payment surpluses of energy- and commodity-exporting nations.

Global investment in direct commercial real estate reached US$682 billion (Bt236 trillion) last year, up 38 per cent on 2005 and nearly double 2003 volume, according to a March Jones Lang LaSalle report called “Global Real Estate Capital: Moving Further and Faster”.

In Asia Pacific, investment totalled $94 billion in 2006, an annual increase of 42 per cent. The investment hot spot of Japan dominated with transaction volumes surging 128 per cent and accounting for 55 per cent of regional investment.

Transactions in China rose a hefty 69 per cent to $9 billion, despite government measures to cool the real-estate market.

Healthy economic and property-market fundamentals will ensure investor demand remains strong in 2007. Pricing pressures are likely to intensify with many funds increasing their weightings in Asia.

Strong competition in tier-one markets is resulting in some investors moving further afield to tier-two and tier-three locations in search of superior risk-adjusted returns.

Investor demand will remain unabated in 2007 on the back of attractive economic and property-market fundamentals and increased institutional weightings to real estate, Murray said.

Source: The Nation 

Rental yields for luxurious condominiums in Bangkok range from 7.2% to 8.9%. The exception is 300-square metre (sq. m) units yielding only around 6.84%.

In Hua Hin, mountain-side villas are cheapest with prices only reaching up to around US$649 per sq. m. While top luxurious properties can cost almost twice that, 150-sq. m beachfront villas are most expensive at US$4,333 per sq. m.

To see chart comparison, go to www.globalpropertyguide.com

For the world’s discerning travellers, nothing carries quite the same prestige as spending a holiday in a luxurious private villa somewhere exotic.

And who can blame them? With such added perks as personal chefs, butlers and drivers at your beck and call as you relax by a private infinity pool in your five-bedroom retreat, that 5-star resort down the beach suddenly pales in comparison.

Villa owners in Europe, the Caribbean and the US have been capitalizing on this mindset for decades, but it is a trend that has only really started to catch on in Thailand in recent years, partially because the country’s high-end villa sales market itself is still in its infancy compared to other global resort markets.

Thailand’s villa rental market is for the most part limited to two areas: Koh Samui and Phuket. Hundreds of travel agencies and rental firms specializing in villas around the world are beginning to take an interest in these two destinations, which has translated into an increase in the number of local firms turning to villa management as a way to offset the recent sales slump that has enveloped the country.

“It’s a trendy market. It’s the next best thing to having a private house,” says Marc Ribail, chief operating officer of villa management firm Samui Villas & Homes (SVH), noting that in the last six months, property sales on the island have been down, so quite a few firms are going into property management. Hence, there are now three or four decent companies that have begun offering villa management among their services, he says.

But unlike most firms, which expanded their services to include rental management under their umbrellas as a means of diversifying, Samui Villas & Homes (SVH) initially set out in 2001 solely as a villa management company, only later entering the sales market to cater to the growing number of clients that wished to purchase a holiday home there. The firm recently announced it’s expanding with a branch in Phuket that will focus on villa management there as well.

Ribail says when the company was created in 2001, it managed only three properties, but things quickly grew from there.

“At the beginning of 2006 we had 25 and now we have nearly 50 so it’s definitely an emerging market,” he says. “In some respects we’re still kind of creating history and track records in Samui. If you look at Phuket, they’ve been doing this for a much longer time, so they have a bench mark they can rely on. We’ve just started making a bench mark now.”

Ribail says when the tsunami hit in 2004, SVH received a dramatic increase in business as holiday-makers shied away from Andaman destinations, however competition and Phuket’s resurgence has caused the market to take a breather.

“There’s a bit of a slow-down this year, because of the recovery of Phuket. The first quarter has been difficult but the rest of the year looks much better,” he says. “The offerings are increasing but demand is the same. So basically the competition is increasing,” says Ribail.

A similar trend is emerging in Phuket, where there are now dozens of firms offering villa management services. Allan Mossop, managing director of Phuket Island Property Services (PIPS), says they’ve definitely seen an upswing in the property rental market in the last year, but it’s been a long time coming.

“The last five years has been a challenge for most folks because Thailand is not a traditional holiday home destination like say the Mediterranean or the Caribbean. But we’ve been making serious inroads. If you go online and look at the international rental sites, the number of properties featured for Thailand has increased dramatically as has the number of inquiries.”

Mossop feels that more people are travelling to Thailand as repeat visitors and are starting to feel more comfortable and don’t’ feel that they have to go stay in a more protected environment of a hotel.

“Holiday rentals are very popular with families, knowing that they’re going to be in a property that’s got a private pool and a kitchen, which means they’re able to take care of their kid’s requirements better. If you’re travelling with your family, it’s a little inconvenient to have the young ones on the fold-out couch.”

PIPS deals with the mid-to upper segment of the rental market. Mossop says that in the low season villa rates range from US$250-500 a night for a three-bedroom villa, but in the high season rates can go for between $600 to $2500 a night, depending on the size of the villa. With rates like these, it’s not surprising villa owners are jumping to put their properties on the rental market when they’re not in use.

But half the battle is attracting interest. According to Mossop, the most important thing for villa owners to consider before putting their property on the rental market is whether their agent able to make their property available to a wide selection of other agents.

“For a long time PIPS was the only company in Phuket actively marketing the full-service rental projects we represent with 50 other agents locally nationally and internationally,” he says. “A lot of the property management companies or rental management companies are only able to take their straight 10% and they are not able to market a home to other rental companies which is a major factor.”

Indeed villa owners have a lot to consider before renting out their property, and this includes whether or not they’re even in a position to do so. SVH’s Ribail says before they’ll even take a villa into their portfolio they consider several factors.

“The first is location. It has to be situated either on the beach or inland with absolutely stunning views. If you look at Phuket, Bali, The Phillippines or Malaysia, there are not as many properties directly on the beach as there are here. So the guests want to pay a bit more to be on the beach rather than sitting in the hills. So because of that location is very important for us,” he says. “We try to keep the level of standards equal among all houses in our portfolio. So even though they’re all individual, if one house doesn’t have a range of amenities or facilities that matches our portfolio we recommend the owners upgrade.”

SVH offers clients two brands to choose from – the Signature Collection or the Boutique Collection. The higher end villas in their portfolio on average go from US$700-900 per night for a 4-5 bedroom villa, which includes 5-star facilities and amenities, however rates can go as high as US$2,000 a night.

Most agents agree that while these prices may sound a bit lofty for your average traveler, when you consider the rates being charged in 5-star hotels for a single room with no privacy and added costs tacked onto nearly everything, it’s no surprise people are looking for new alternatives.

By Kala Cripps at www.property-report.com

Hong Kong has the world’s highest average rents for expatriate workers, well above Tokyo, New York and London, according to a study released Wednesday.

Altogether, Asia accounted for half of the top 10 most expensive cities for rental apartments for expatriates, while Nairobi was the world’s cheapest.

The survey was carried out by international human resources consultancy ECA among relocation companies, real estate agents and foreign workers, and took unfurnished three-bedroom apartments as a base as they were the most commonly rented by expatriates.

In Hong Kong, such a flat in an area popular with expatriates would fetch nearly 8,600 US dollars a month.

That is by some distance more expensive than the average rental price for foreigners in Tokyo, which ranked the world’s second on a little under 7,360 dollars a month.

“Comparing the cost of renting an unfurnished three bedroom apartment, the data shows that Hong Kong is by far the most expensive city,” said Lee Quane, ECA’s general manager in Hong Kong.

The high rental prices in Hong Kong are due to lack of space as well as an increasing demand for luxury developments as many financial firms strengthen their presence within the city, ECA said.

After Hong Kong and Tokyo, the third most expensive city was New York where a three-bedroom flat for an expatriate costs an average 7,250 dollars to rent, then Moscow, Seoul, London, Mumbai, Shanghai, Caracas and Paris.

Further down the scale, large increases were noticed in rental prices over the past decade in Doha and Dubai, up 130 and 100 percent respectively.

Nevertheless, Hong Kong’s rental prices have fallen.

Quane said the residential rental market here boomed in 1996, a year before the territory was returned to Chinese rule, but has since dropped steadily due to government policies cooling the market and the Asian financial crisis.

Nairobi is the world’s cheapest city for foreigners to rent a three-bedroom apartment at around 1,090 dollars a month, nearly eight times cheaper than in Hong Kong.

Source: Channel News Asia

Hong Kong’s high-end apartments are the world’s most expensive to rent, followed by  those in Tokyo and New York, according to a survey on expatriate accommodation released Tuesday.

The survey, conducted by UK-based human resources consultancy ECA International, noted that an executive three-bedroom apartment in Hong Kong costs more than $8,500 a month to rent.

Rents for typical expatriate apartments in Hong Kong rose an average 10% last year and 15% in 2005, due to the Chinese territory´s strong economic growth, said Lee Quane, general manager of ECA International Hong Kong.

The gap between Hong Kong and other cities was widening, he added.

The survey compared rental prices in 92 locations worldwide. Tokyo rents for expatriates averaged $7,358 while in New York, they were $7,249. Moscow was ranked fourth most expensive at $6,526, followed by Seoul, London, Mumbai and Shanghai, the survey found.

The Venezuelan capital of Caracas was ranked ninth as expatriates there need to live in high-security compounds for safety reasons, Quane said. Paris was 10th.

The cheapest location of the 92 cities was Nairobi, Kenya, where a three-bedroom apartment cost about $1,000 a month, the survey said.

Source: www.property-report.com

Source: www.property-report.com

With housing allowances in the range of  Bt70,000 to Bt100,000 a month, Bangkok’s  high-paid expatriates have money to burn – and they want homes with all the Western-ammenities they’re accustomed to.

For condominium and apartment owners, this segment of the market is a potential gold mine, particularly given most of these expats are here on a short-term basis. The statistics certainly are promising, but as competition grows, it’s not an easy market to enter.

CB Richard Ellis Thailand executive director James Pitchon told Property Report Thailand that demand for high-end rentals increased in 2006 and the number of expatriates in bangkok with work permits grew to 67,412 in 2006, a 12.5% increase year on year according to statistics by the Alien Occupational Control division of the Department of Employment. The largest segment of this market is Japanese – 22% – as the so-called “land of the rising sun” is the largest foreign direct investor in Thailand.

Pitchon noted that the rental market is in actuality even higher, as those numbers excude diplomats and agencies such as the United Nations. They also exclude foreigners without work permits, but Pitchon says they consider most of these to be part of the retiree market, who traditionally buy their units.

“The good news is that demand increased. Last year there was only a limited amount of new supply in apartments, and there were only about 330 units completed last year. But the number of condominium units grew by over 4,000 units. That will continue to be the case in the next two to three years,” he said, but added this figure excluded serviced apartments, which are considered a very different product – somewhere in between a hotel and an apartment. Many now have a hotel license, so they’re operating on a more short-term basis.

“From a supply point of view, the big question is, how many of these apartments are expat quality, and how many owners of these new condominiums will want to lease them out?” asks Pitchon. “Recently a new supply has appeared in the downtown area, and there’s been a greater focus on small sized units, many of them aimed at the Thai market, so not all the new condo supply will be of a standard that appeals to expats, but there are a lot of condo units.”

Pitchon says the proportion of owner occupation and units purchased by people on a buy-to-lease basis varies from building to building: “Of the developments that are just coming up to completion, the number that will be available for rent ranges between 30-50% at the moment. So, although demand has risen, there will be quite a lot of condominium supply coming on.”

This means that competition is going to be tight in the coming year. Generally, expats given the choice would prefer a single ownership apartment, says Pitchon, because the owner is able to service all their requirements whereas in a condo the owner might not even be in Thailand. And in many cases the owner has not put in place a local manager to look after his apartment. So the challenge for condominium owners who have bought to lease out is how to manage their units because tenants will have questions.

“So if the air conditioner breaks down, who’s going to fix it? It will not be the staff looking after the common areas of the condominium, because their responsibility is not private property. So owners must think about how they will manage and maintain the units.”

This includes implementing pest control contracts, regular A/C maintenance contracts, and, most importantly, there has to be a clear understanding between the owner and the tenant of who’s responsible for doing what.

The most popular area for expats is still Sukhumvit, followed by Central Lumpini and the Sathorn area. There are two satellites, one being around the International School of Bangkok and there is also a smaller cluster around Bangkok Pattana School. As for the up-and-coming riverside, currently there is limited demand from expatriate tenants, generally because of access issues. A small segment of expats are heading to other areas, such as Thonglor. “Again you’ve got access to the skytrain but in a slightly lower density environment,” said Pitchon.

The expat rental market is driven generally by housing allowances granted to employees and employees generally spend all of their allowances, but not put their own money in. “The biggest change in the market has been that Japanese with families now receive higher allowances than they did previously,” says Pitchon. “Some will give Bt70,000 or Bt75,000 for a three-bedroom apartment. The Japanese tend to be at the lower end of the market but they are a significant level of demand.

“What’s happened is that much of the existing stock is over 10 years old. We’ve seen very few apartments built since the financial crisis over the last 10 years, more condominiums, and what has been happening is that new supply, with smaller units, is actually getting higher rents because it looks better. Modern design.”

As for housing rentals, Pitchon says the market is small because there a limited supply of homes in central areas, including in the Sukhumvit area. “Sansiri on 67 had rented well, but there is a limited market for people with over Bt100,000 a month to spend,” he said. “There are few companies that pay that kind of housing allowance.”

As for two-tiered pricing for Thais and Foreigners, there really isn’t a Thai rental market. Given that Thais have the freedom to buy and sell what they choose, unlike foreigners, those with high salaries and incomes just won’t go out and rent 75,000 a month apartments. So there is no Thai market above Bt15,000 a month.

“The rental market is efficient in terms of transparent pricing, information on products and a regular turnover,” said Pitchon. “So if a building doesn’t maintain its standards, then new expats will not move in.”

Bangkok’s high-paid expats keep rental market flush.