The Home Builder Association signals a positive trend in the home building market for the second half of 2017. Pichit Arunpalap explains consumer behavior, indicating a desire to build homes on their own vacant land, with the highest demand for construction within 6 months to 1 year.

           Mr. Pichit Arunpalap, President of the Home Builder Association (HBA), revealed that the overall home building market in the third quarter of 2017 shows improvement compared to the same period last year. He believes this will contribute to a more vibrant home building market in the fourth quarter of 2017, partly due to the momentum from the "Home Builder & Materials Expo 2017" held from August 17-20, 2017. Data collected from consumer surveys and general attendees revealed several interesting points beneficial to the home building industry and the association's members, who are using this information to adjust their marketing strategies and promotions to encourage consumer decision-making.

 

           The reasons for choosing to build a home instead of buying from a development show that the top reason is having vacant land already, accounting for 34.86%. The second reason is wanting to choose building materials themselves, at 19.53%, and the third reason is that it is cheaper than buying from a housing development, at 17.45% (*Chart 1). Delving deeper, this consumer group indicates a readiness to build, accounting for 10.86%, with 9.89% wanting to build within 3 months, 12.58% within 6 months, 26.46% within 1 year, and 27.07% wanting to build in over 1 year (*Chart 2). The budget for construction is mostly between 2-5 million baht, and most desire a usable area of the house not exceeding 150-250 square meters on a plot of land not exceeding 50-100 square wah. At the same time, it was found that 47.03% do not want to use loans from financial institutions, while 32.45% are interested in using loans.

           For the consumer group wanting to build homes, the average income level is highest at 15,001-40,000 baht per person per month, accounting for 32.17%. The next group has an income of 40,001-70,000 baht per person per month, at 18.25%. Those wanting to build homes include employees of private companies, business owners, and self-employed individuals. “The majority of home builders are younger individuals who have separated from their families and have some savings. Additionally, there are those starting new businesses or startups who are more ready to build homes,” Mr. Pichit stated.

           Mr. Pichit also mentioned that 2017 is the first year the association has adjusted its strategy by partnering with manufacturers and suppliers of construction materials to showcase innovations, which received significant interest from the public attending the event. This aligns with consumer data from the "Home Builder & Materials Expo 2017," where 20.17% attended to study technology and construction materials, 32.78% to research house designs, and 23.02% to hire a construction company, among others (*Chart 3).

 

           In conclusion, Mr. Pichit reiterated that the positive consumer response from the recent "Home Builder & Materials Expo" held in August resulted in sales of over 2.68 billion baht during the 4-day event, and with subsequent sales, he believes this will help the total market value of the home building business in Bangkok and surrounding areas grow close to the target of approximately 10.2 billion baht.

Thank you for the information from www.hba-th.org.