Pattaya Property Market 

Pattaya's mushrooming property market so flourished, especially from 2004-8, that it was dubbed "Bangkok" s Little Sister', largely because of the increasing number of  giant new high-rise condominiums, many of which enjoy beachfront locations, which transformed the nature of the Pattaya Property Market. Although the first high-rises were built in the late1980s and 90s, along Jomtien Beach Road and Wong Amat, these never exceeded 44 storeys and the new, up-market wave of mega high-rises, premium grade A condominium projects, effectively started with the launch of Raimon Land’s Northshore development, and later Northpoint (54 storeys) which rapidly drew a host of other major international and Thai developers, who, following Raimon Land's lead, began or planned to built mega high-rises, such as the White Sand Beach developments of the Sails (39 storeys), Le Meridien Hotel (43 storeys), the Spinnaker-MÖvenpick Hotel (42 & 45 storeys), Waterfront (54 storeys), Ocean Marina (33 storeys), Ocean Portofino (37 storeys), Reflections (54 storeys)  and Ocean 1 Tower (91 storeys. The developer of the Sails, Pongphan Sampawakoop of Grande Asset Development, said on July 29, 2005 in the Bangkok Post "We decided to develop the project because we saw a lot of opportunities in Pattaya, where new resort condominiums are scarce but demand is rising. Grande Asset reasons that with better transport links, people, from both Bangkok and the Eastern Seaboard, will consider a second home in Pattaya. The resort town is well developed with modern facilities such as shopping malls, international schools, hospitals and entertainment."

Then came the economic downturn, which plunged the Pattaya Property Market into a state of hiatus and all but Northpoint, Ocean Marina and Ocean Portofino went on hold. Now, the Pattaya Property Market is becoming increasingly diversified into low-rise condominiums, luxury villas and relatively modest housing estates, which many regard as the natural profile of the market. These now supplement its many original village properties and older housing estates. During the halcyon days, the peak being reached in H2/08, the ROI (returns on investment) as regards capital appreciation and rental returns almost reached parity with Bangkok, the highest psm (price per square metre) for a new building climbed as high as Bt220,000 for The Cove, with a top capital appreciation of 90% (Northshore resale Bt180,000, January 2008), and giving top rental returns of between 8-12% p.a., making the city an investor-magnet par excellence, to compete with Thailand's other coastal resorts. Now, due to the continuing impact of the economic recession, the lack of condominium launches, and the oversupply on the market, the current take-up rate is approximately 35.2%, and the average unit price dropped to what many analysts consider a more realistic price of below the Bt100,000/sq.m mark; a trend which effectively started in 2009, while typical rental ROIs have stabilized at nearer the still haelthy 5-7% level.