Demand for the much sought after Mae Phim area near Rayong Thailand increasing year on year

Mae Phim beach is the jewel in the heart of Thailand’s Golden Coast from Rayong to Klaeng, long renowned for it’s fine sandy beach, the finest mainland beach along the entire Eastern Seaboard of Thailand, and also for it’s delicious Thai sea food restaurants, but as more and more foreigners discover this largely unspoilt tropical paradise, so the price of land near the ocean has trebled inside of the last four years, and is set to continue until it reaches prices similar to those of the better known tourist destinations for a number of well justified reasons.

The Mae Phim beach area's proximity to the new airport and to Bangkok assures it continued growth and demand

Just under two hours from the international airport and just over two hours to central Bangkok, the Laem Mae Phim area is a true real estate hotspot, convenient enough for wealthy Thais and Expats from Bangkok to commute at weekends to holiday homes, as well as increasing popular with foreigners from overseas looking for winter homes and a friendly place to retire to in the tropical sun.

Looking to the future, in keeping with other major cities around the world, it is likely that more and more people working in the city of Bangkok might make their main home in the Mae Phim area and commute to a city condo or rental apartment during the week, thus avoiding expensive Bangkok homes and taking advantage of the cheaper prices and electing for a more affordable and spacious luxury countryside home by the ocean. Such has been the case for many of the big cities around the world where prices in the city have risen to heights which prevent many from owning a decent sized detached family home, and there’s no reason to suspect that the same will not be true to some degree in the case of Bangkok.

Another factor which could boost the ease and speed of commuting to and from the capital city and from the new international airport is the plan for a new high speed rail link between Rayong and Bangkok. The high speed trains will travel at up to 250kmph, reaching Rayong within about an hour from Bangkok. Estimated at some 170 billion Thai baht it is one of four high speed rail links planned for Thailand, the others being Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Bangkok to Nong Kai border with Laos, and Bangkok to Hua Hin. Although costly, Deputy Transport Minister Chatchart Sithipan considers such new high speed rail links as an important element of Thailand’s infrastructure which will be of great benefit overall to the nation’s economy, in respect of which such links must be built. Detailed feasibility studies will soon be conducted, with the hope that bids for the construction of the new rail links will be tendered early next year, such that the Rayong rail link project could be completed before the end of the decade. Although it’s yet several years away, the new rail link will facilitate and expedite travel from Bangkok and the new international airport to the Eastern Seaboard, and provide a definite boost to the Rayong area, and the plans for such alone will already be a factor which is being considered by savvy investors in land and property in the area.

The new coastal highway from Laem Mae Phim to Trat is still underway, with much of the new road now complete from Mae Phim to Laem Sing near Chanthaburi, and only the bridge between Prasere and Laem Son across the river south of Klaeng to be completed as the final link in the chain. Once complete it will be that much easier to reach the Mae Phim area from other resorts along the coast to the east, and vice versa, and this will be of benefit to tourism in the area and to those who wish to travel the new scenic route.

With the dramatic rise in land prices for land near the ocean, the increasing demand from wealthy foreigners and Thais, the completion of the new coastal highway, fast road connections to the new international airport and to Bangkok and the future prospect of a new high speed rail link, it’s a sure fire bet that the prices of land with house will follow this upward trend when the true market value of rising land prices is taken into full account. Yet at present there’s still value to be had in properties on the ocean side mature developments, and still a number of houses with good sized land plots near the ocean which represent exceptional value for money, being marketed at a price which reflects the price of the land some years ago, failing to take account of what has been happening in recent years.

Many realtors and investors have heard of the expression “you make the profit when you buy”, which of course means that the purchase price is so important to the future profit of any property investment, but such properties will not remain undervalued forever, and such a buying opportunity is in limited supply, so our advice to potential investors is to look at this opportunity right now and select the best properties available at the time, because the direction for prices of the mature properties by the ocean in this area is only going one way, and that’s upwards, to catch up with the price of land which has already trebled in recent years.