Small and medium-sized property developers should pay attention to construction quality and after-sales services rather than competing to buy unreasonably priced plots, says property veteran Anant Asavabhokhin.
"Competition among developers in buying land plots causes land prices to rise unreasonably," he said yesterday during the launch of his new property course 'The Next Real'. "Developers should estimate costs and focus on profit before planning a project."
The former chairman of SET-listed developer Land & Houses Plc said many developers accelerate the launch, sales and development of residential projects regardless of their quality.
The goal for some is to launch and develop a large number of projects in preparation for listing on the stock market, said Mr Anant.
The residential market remains dominated by large developers, particularly the top 10 SET-listed firms. They perform better every year because they grab market share from small and medium-sized developers, not because of market growth, he said.
The bank mortgage rejection was as high as 30-40% last year, but should cool down this year as banks are more familiar with the market situation, said Mr Anant. Banks will design models to match with homebuyers who had difficulties in obtaining mortgage loans.
Developers have adjusted their strategies by submitting customers' profiles to banks to get pre-approval before allowing them to book a unit.
"The lower-end segment, with units priced below 2-3 million baht, will remain sluggish this year as purchasing power in this segment will not change from last year," he said.
The upper end of the market will remain strong and the luxury residential segment will continue growing this year, said Mr Anant.
As finding labour will be a bigger problem this year, developers should apply prefabrication construction methods, which can also improve construction quality, he said.
"The residential market has accelerated so much that product quality is poor," said Mr Anant. "The number of complaints about residential units [submitted to the Consumer Protection Board] never declines."
He said developers do not need to speed up sales at projects, but should take time to gain from higher unit prices.
