Residential developers want swift implementation of property measures, including cuts to transfer and mortgage fees and eased lending curbs, while calling on banks to reduce interest rates by 0.25%, the level of the policy rate reduction, instead of 0.05% to 0.10%.
Prasert Taedullayasatit, president of the Thai Condominium Association, said the housing market slowed significantly in the first two months this year as the reduction of transfer and mortgage fees to 0.01% for units priced 7 million baht or less expired at the end of last year.
"The government should urgently reinstate these measures. This time, it's not only about speed -- the measures must be strong enough to lift demand, particularly by easing loan-to-value limits," he said.
Last year, middle to upper-end buyers still had strong purchasing power, said Mr Prasert, but the stock market decline marred the purchasing power of this segment.
Meanwhile, lower-income earners struggled to secure mortgages, with the rejection rate for this segment surging to 77% last year.
As a result, developers had to repeatedly sell and re-sell properties, incurring additional costs due to the remarketing of the same properties for which customers were previously denied financing.
"The profiles of customers waiting for mortgage approval are piling up at banks, awaiting government measures," he said.
"It is crucial for the government to introduce property incentives to lift the market and support developers' performance in the first quarter."
Mr Prasert said the newly completed condo supply this year, estimated at 141 billion baht, requires a transfer booster shot, enabling developers to use the proceeds to repay debentures that expire this year.
To help revive demand, particularly in the middle to upper-end segment where some buyers purchase units as second or third homes, easing lending curbs would facilitate these transactions, he said.
"Domestic demand is weak, extending the absorption rate from 2.7 years to 4.3 years," said Mr Prasert, also chief operating officer of SET-listed Ananda Development.
"The key to helping developers survive this year is foreign demand."
He said Ananda recorded 16 billion baht in presales last year, with 40% coming from foreign buyers, up from 11% in 2023.
In the first two months of this year, Ananda's presales tallied 2.7 billion baht, with the share of foreign buyers rising to 65%.
"We also want the 0.25% interest rate cut to reach borrowers in full, but commercial banks are only reducing rates by 0.05-0.1%," said Mr Prasert.
"The Bank of Thailand should better regulate banks to ensure the reduced policy rate reaches the actual borrowers."
Sunthorn Sathaporn, president of the Housing Business Association, said property associations have been pushing for an extension of the incentives during the first two months of this year, anticipating measures may be released in May or June.
"We believe quick implementation is crucial," he said.
"In the first two months this year, the low-rise housing market across all pricing segments contracted, particularly single detached houses, which posted a significant decline due to the absence of stimulus measures."
New mortgages increased in the fourth quarter of 2024, benefiting from campaigns and financial packages offering special interest rates from Government Housing Bank.
However, for the year in 2024 new mortgages contracted to around 600 billion baht annually, down from 800 billion year-on-year.
The absorption rate of low-rise houses is only 1.8%, meaning it takes roughly 50 months to sell out, said Mr Sunthorn.
"We've moved past the era of 'buy a house, but don't get a house', which occurred during the 1997 financial crisis," he said. "Now the era is 'buy a house, but don't get the loan'."
