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Plus Flags Ekkamai as Superb Rental Market for Expats and Office Workers

26 Aug 2020 plus news and update

Plus Property discovers appealing growth in condominiums in Soi Ekkamai, finding selling prices to be 25% lower than nearby neighborhoods Thong Lo and Phrom Phong while there is a price growth tendency of 11.5% per year.
Land prices grew noteworthily during 2015-2019, at 11.81% per year. This was much higher than Greater Bangkok’s average land price growth of 4.89% per year.
Rental market still growing well, with a rental yield of 5% that makes it attractive for investment. Contributing factors include the location’s proximity to the existing business district along the inner parts of Sukhumvit and connectivity with new business hubs in Bang Na. PLUS also discovered there is a trend for new properties to provide ‘new normal’ solutions that place more value in cooking space and multi-purpose common spaces that better accommodate an increase in time spent at home.

Ms. Suwannee Mahanarongchai, Deputy Managing Director, Business Strategies and Asset Management, Plus Property Company Limited, the full-service professional property and facility management agency, revealed that PLUS’s research and development division deems Ekkamai to have become a residential centre which accommodates Thai as well as expat office workers.

The location offers linkages to business districts along the inner parts of Sukhumvit and enables convenient travels to the newer business places in the Bang Na area. Ekkamai is a location well-known for its residential and lifestyle offers for inner city living. Its appeal to both Thai and foreign dwellers gives Ekkamai another strength – the rental market.

The location was able to accommodate the continually increased number of expat workers who resided in Bangkok over the past 10 years; in 2019 the figure rose to 93,714 persons – a 4% increase from the same period of the previous year. Although the number of foreign expats working in Bangkok declined in the first half of this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, an influx of foreigners is expected once the situation improves.

A survey of condominiums under the administration of PLUS found that 32% of expats living in the mid-Sukhumvit area were Japanese; this is a supporting factor for the rental markets in mid-Sukhumvit as well as in Ekkamai, enabling rental properties in the areas to be well-received.

Survey data points to a rapid increase in supply in the Ekkmai location from 2017 to 2019. In 2019, there were 9,239 condominium units on sale at 29 development projects in Soi Ekkamai. 65% of these, or 6,039 units, have already been sold. Condominiums being developed in Soi Ekkamai are priced at no less than 150,000 baht per square metre, and a recently-launched luxury project at the entrance of Soi Ekkamai is priced higher than 200,000 per square metre.

While the price of condos in Soi Ekkamai are lower than prices in nearby locations (Phrom Phong and Thong Lo) by about 25% on average, Ekkamai’s price has a growth tendency of 11.5% per year and this fact has resulted in the location having been attractive to investors as well as people who bought the properties for their own residency.

The price of land in Ekkamai has also been rising attractively. A look at survey data from 2015-2019 reveals that on average, land prices in Ekkamai have grown by 11.81% per year; this was noticeably higher than the average growth rate of land prices in Greater Bangkok in the same period, which was 4.89% per year.

Most recently in 2018-2019, the land price at the prime end of Ekkamai increased by 10% and the price at the tail end of the soi increased by 8.06%. Rental data revealed that for a sample room of 43 square metres, rent was 25,000 baht per month and rental yield was 5% on average; this was considered a healthy level and was appropriate for investment.

“A highlight of Soi Ekkamai is the fact that it possessed linkages to many other travel routes. When traveling by car, links are available between the minor sois and this is not something that can be said for the sois of Sukhumvit Road in general. Meanwhile, rush-hour commutes are facilitated by the BTS.

The area is surrounded by lifestyle centres that makes it suitable for those who prefer living downtown. Ekkamai and Thong Lo fully share their stores, restaurants and other local amenities. There is a tendency for residential properties in Soi Ekkamai to be responsive to the ‘new normal’ lifestyle that calls for increased accommodation of activities which result from people staying more at home.

For example, the common area might have a co-kitchen and co-spaces such as meeting room and recreation room. Design of functions takes into account flexibility and convertibility of the personal space, and respond to the new lifestyle. With a 5% rental yield, Ekkamai stands as an option for investors or people looking to buy a place to live in,” said Suwannee.