Bangkok Apartments | Bangkok Condos | Bangkok Serviced Apartments

REIC index aims for better price data

The Real Estate Information Centre (REIC) plans an index of residential construction costs next year to help consumers calculate the price of homes, says director-general Samma Kitsin. The centre, working with the Home Builder Association, will pick a housing type - such as a two-storey detached house with usable area of 70 square metres or more - as a model for the index. The model will cover construction materials - types of steel, cement, electrical wiring, gypsum board and roof - as well as management, overhead and labour costs. "It will take at least six months to find a formula as there are hundreds of factors involved," said Mr Samma. Three models will be studied before finalising an index that is accepted by most homebuilders. The base year is likely to be 2004, a year when construction material prices were stable. The Thai Real Estate Association has invited REIC to provide guidelines on real estate data analysis - essential, in Mr Samma's view, for drawing up good property development plans. "But asking for property-related data from government agencies and the private sector is very difficult and there may be unexpected costs," he said. Somchao Tantaterdtham, a former president of the Thai Real Estate Association, said developers needed to collect their own real-estate data and depend less on the REIC, which provides macro data such as economic growth and construction permits. "Whoever wants to launch a new project today needs to be able to analyse the market situation and seek new market space," he said. "Developers should be self-reliant." The data most sought after by developers are micro-data for a location where a project is planned, such as housing types, prices, monthly sales and absorption rates, he said. Bangkok Post

 

< Prev		Next >