Best real estate in Thailand

The German-Thai Chamber of Commerce will help the Thai real estate industry have a presence for the first time at Expo Real 2008, to be held in Munich from Oct 6-8 this year. Bjoern Kempe, Expo Real's exhibition manager, said Thailand would have a country pavilion with the expectation of having one or two individual companies join the three-day fair.

The country presentation would help exhibitors save costs by paying about 8,000 to 10,000 euros per booth, instead of 15,000 euros for the smallest 20- square-metre space.

The chamber offers a turnkey package, from the construction and decoration of booths to business matchmaking and liaising with contacts.

The fair organiser will also plan a press conference to showcase Thailand to the international media. Last year 1,083 journalists from 28 countries attended the conference.

Expo Real has been organised for 10 years and now claims to be the biggest fair for commercial property in Europe. Last year it had 1,823 exhibitors from 43 countries occupying 63,000 sq m of exhibition area.

The 2007 Expo Real had 23,800 visitors from 77 countries.

The 2008 fair would be even bigger as the organiser plans to add one more exhibition hall to the six used last year to serve rising demand. There are also extensive conference programmes featuring around 400 speakers to provide an in-depth overview of current trends and innovations in property investment and finance.

Mr Kempa said last year the fair attracted exhibitors from Asian countries, including Korea, Australia, India, United Arab Emirates and, for the first time, Indonesia.

He said it was a good time for Thai exhibitors to reach international buyers as the strong euro had encouraged many European investors to look for opportunities in real estate in the United States and Asia.

Prayoon Damrongchitanon, vice-president of the International Real Estate Association, said real estate in Thailand had slowly shifted from a domestic to a global market since the 1997-98 crisis.

The association encourages Thai real estate businesses _ whether they are developers, brokers or property management firms _ to internationalise their businesses and participate in international commercial fairs on a selective basis.

This article was first published in The Bangkok Post 21st March 2008