1. What attracts people to Rent or buy property in Hua Hin?

There are several factors, but we can say:

-The climate, long sandy beaches, good shopping options, the local & international restaurants as well as visiting the night markets and Its relatively competitive prices on houses and condos compared to BKK, Phuket, Koh Samui or Pattaya.

-Distance: it is only 2-to 2.5 hours drive from Bangkok on mostly multi lane highways

-The town’s atmosphere – being Royal and kind of “low key” so people who don’t like active nightlife such as in Phuket and Pattaya will find Hua Hin a suitable destination

-Safety, on account of the Royal presence, and Hua Hin being golf paradise. There are 8 international golf courses within 25 minutes drive distance from Hua Hin

-Close to Sam Roy Yod and Kaeng Krachang national Parks

2. Can Hua Hin’s infrastructure cope with an increase in tourism / long term stay residents from overseas?

The answer is yes, however a continuous improvement programs will also need to be implemented. Hua Hin already has English speaking hospitals, supermarkets which sell a variety of local/foreign foods and goods, but to further absorb new developments there is a requirement for improvements in areas such as water supplies, sewage system, flood prevention system, etc… The good news is that these projects are part of the election platform of the newly elected mayor of Hua Hin. Therefore we are expecting some improvement in the town in this area.

3. Who is currently buying property in Hua Hin and why? E.g. –nationality? for investment, retirement, family holiday home?

Hua Hin has been very popular among Scandinavian buyers. Other nationalities include Germans, English, Dutch who are looking to purchase retirement and holiday homes. Many of them also query about possible investment programs for those times they are not here.

There is also a large market for Thai purchasers who see Hua Hin as a close week-end getaway from Bangkok and an excellent opportunity for the purchase of a second home.

Furthermore, we see some new trends – in the past few months quite a few inquiries have been received from ex pats living in Middle East, HK and other South East Asian countries. People are starting to look and search for Thai properties outside of the traditional Phuket or Samui alternatives.
4. Have rising oil prices had any effect on the performance of the property market / tourism?
Yes, it has. — 2 – 3 years ago, the factors to increase property prices were mainly due to appreciation of land price or speculative reasons. However, recently, the developers are compelled to increase the price due to high construction costs (mainly cost of steel).

From a tourism point of view there has been an increase in the costs of airfares which on the whole has an effect of reducing the number of times the client visits Hua Hin. For example, clients who used to come to Hua Hin 3 times a year, now have reduced their trips to twice a year.

5. What are the current trends in developments – condo’s, villas, high end?
There are a number of trends in effect suitable for all budgets and tastes.

One trend is the emergence of luxury villas. Hua Hin used to focus on low – mid range properties such as 2 -7 million area however, we see some new luxurious villa/condo over 15 million recently launched.

Another trend is the emergence of middle to high end condominium projects which offer ‘freehold’ status which is the a ability to get title to the unit compared to villas which you can only lease on a 30-30-30 year basis. Furthermore many of the condo and some villas offer “rental guarantee/management”, or offer full resort facilities/services. Adding to the ‘condo momentum’ is the fact that before it was either “beach front condo” or “very reasonable house in land”, but the laws have changed and we cannot build beach front condos any more, and the customers found some drawbacks to housing which is far away from facilities without any services. So many new projects tend to offer more facilities and services, compared to before.

6. How do you see the future of the property market progressing in Hua Hin in terms of type of developments and target market?

We are witnessing some new types of properties such as, serviced apartments, condos with full rental management, resort ownership with rental income guarantee, fractional ownership, etc…

Many of the clients are in their 40s and 50s and still working, They can only spend a few weeks of the year staying in their properties, but require some kind of rental income to absorb on going maintenance costs and perhaps make a bit of additional monies to pay airfare and out of pocket expenses.. So the concept of serviced apartment or properties with rental income would be a very attractive choice for them.