Condo purchases in Bangkok are being propelled by end users and rental investors targeting working professionals with units priced 3-5 million baht, as negotiable pricing remains essential to closing deals, according to SET-listed developer Sansiri.

Samatkom Tangvivat, the company's assistant executive vice-president of project development for high-rise, said most condo sales in recent months were ready-to-transfer units.

"The most active group consists of end users buying condos for work-related living in those areas," he said.

"They typically purchase at 130,000-150,000 baht per square metre, or about 3-5 million baht per unit, as these are essential home purchases."

Investment buyers have also been active over the past 2-3 months, said Mr Samatkom, targeting units for rental to people seeking accommodation near a workplace or in a convenient location, particularly those unable to secure mortgages due to stricter lending and repayment capacity constraints.

Mr Samatkom says if potential customers negotiate within acceptable limits, developers must sell as there's no point in resisting.

"Buyers no longer purchase off-plan units for future transfer, while speculators flipping booking contracts vanished before the pandemic," he said.

"Today's market consists only of genuine end users."

In the upper-end segment, condo sales have slowed as most buyers already own units and are deterred by economic uncertainty, said Mr Samatkom.

Their decisions are typically driven by aspirations, such as acquiring larger units or securing better locations, allowing them to wait rather than rush amid a sluggish market.

According to property consultancy CBRE Thailand, the number of new upper-end condo units launched downtown fell sharply to just 141 in the second quarter of 2025, an 82% year-on-year decline and a 78% drop from the previous quarter.

"We have several new upper-end condo projects in the pipeline, but their launches and marketing have been postponed as promoting them in the current market may not yield optimal results," he said.

However, construction is continuing and Sansiri has begun demolishing existing buildings at prime locations such as Chidlom and Sarasin to push forward with development, leveraging a strong financial position while waiting for demand to recover, said Mr Samatkom.

POST-QUAKE RECOVERY

He said condo sales in the aftermath of the earthquake on March 28 resumed in June, after a slump lasting several weeks.

In May, most sales were in the low-rise condo segment, while high-rise condo sales had not yet recovered as buyers remained concerned about the greater damage observed in taller buildings.

The surge in low-rise condo sales came from several groups: new condo buyers, former high-rise residents switching to low-rise, and investors purchasing low-rise condos to rent out to tenants displaced from damaged high-rise units.

For the first six months of this year, Sansiri reported 10.5 billion baht in condo sales, comprising 7.98 billion in the first quarter and 2.54 billion in the second quarter. In July, condo sales tallied 2 billion baht.

Since June, high-rise condo sales have nearly returned to normal, as buyers recognise which developers acted to repair damaged projects and demonstrated strong construction quality, said Mr Samatkom.

Sales have revived for developers who instil confidence in buyers, he said.

"While demand has contracted, supply also declined with fewer new launches by many developers in recent years," said Mr Samatkom.

"We need to focus on selling. If customers negotiate within acceptable limits, we must sell. There's no point in resisting. This has been our marketing strategy for sales over the past several months."

However, there is no need to panic or offload units at discounted prices, as supply remains limited, he said.

"We are not seeing flashy promotions, but rather price-focused strategies," said Mr Samatkom.

"Any price reductions are limited by how much the company can assist with financing, how much support developers can offer for loans, and the level of interest rates banks can offer to make units affordable without customers using their own cash."