Even though Pattaya has a good supply of condos, Habitat Group sees robust growth ahead based on its ethos of providing hotel style management and guaranteed rental yield returns for property investors.
Chanin Vanijwongse, Chief executive of Habitat Group was quoted as saying, “In tourist destinations, renting out a condo unit is cumbersome for the unit owner to seek tenants and take care of the unit.”
Rental guarantees provide convenience and stability for buyers and this model has been working well for Habitat Group’s customers for several years. It is expected that the condo market in Pattaya will strengthen in the second half of 2019 due to growing tourism numbers as well as a relatively low number of new builds being completed over the last few years.
The company will launch two new condo projects in Pattaya including a low rise branded condo called the Ramada by Wyndham Mira in North Pattaya. This will comprise of 339 units within two eight-story buildings and buyers can enjoy a 6% yield guarantee.
Mr. Chanin was also quoted as saying, “We are on the right track since our establishment in 2012, as our seven projects in Pattaya are all property for investment,” adding, “This business model will continue to be robust in major tourist destinations like Pattaya, due to strong growth in tourist arrivals.”
Thailand outpaces global numbers for music streaming
Thailand’s music lovers have shown they are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to using music streaming services. The Kingdom outpaces global numbers by quite a significant margin in most sectors.
For example 60 per cent of commuters use music streaming services whilst commuting to work, compared to 54 per cent as measured on a global basis. As for streaming music whilst working and studying Thailand beat the worldwide average by an even larger margin of 65 per cent vs. 40 percent globally.
Saranee Boonritthongchai, head of consumer and small and medium business marketing at Google Thailand, was quoted as saying, “Music is one of the top five topics that Thais search actively on Google apart from locals/nearby places, sports/football, travel and entertainment that includes music and shopping for product searches.”
Music streaming has risen in popularity due to faster networks being employed, especially on mobile networks. Smartphones made up three quarters of the streaming market.
Krittee Manoleehagul, an executive of Joox Thailand and managing director of Tencent Thailand, commented that music streaming was now becoming a leading part of Thai lifestyles.
DTAC sees slight reduction in subscribers but still reports increased profits
Mobile phone network operator DTAC saw its subscriber base fall slightly by 94,000 to 20.6 million users, but was able to increase profits markedly during the second quarter of this year.
Good control of costs saw the company post a net profit of 1.695 billion baht, an 845 per cent increase over the same period last year. This marks the start of a turnaround for the company after several years of decline.
DTACadded six thousand new 2300MHz base stations during the quarter and now has 16,000 base stations in operation. Capital expenditure for 2019 is expected to reach 13 billion baht.
Alexandra Reich, DTAC’s chief executive was quoted as saying, “Our development in the second quarter of 2019 was in line with our turnaround pillars,” adding, “We will continue our focus on building a customer-centric network.”
