Recovery of apartments, office buildings reflected in new data

Organizations involved in apartment and office building management are thriving thanks to the country's recovering economy, tourism and real estate market, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce. Deputy Commerce Minister Napintorn Srisanpang said the Thai economy has gradually improved since the pandemic, especially in tourism and real estate. Consumers have resumed spending and shown more interest in investing in housing.

Data from the Land Department show that more than 53,000 apartment properties were handed over in the first six months of this year. The figures reflect a growing trend of legal entities being set up to manage apartment complexes and office buildings, with developers''real estate or real estate companies allocate common spaces for projects.

In 2020, there were 137 legal entities registered to manage apartment and office buildings with a capital of 283 million baht. In 2021, 150 such entities were registered (up 9.49%) with a capital of 335 million baht (up 18.4%). In 2022, 300 organizations were registered (up 100%) and in the first nine months of this year, 553 organizations were registered (up 166%) with registered capital of 1.79 billion baht (up 195%).

This is in line with data on registered apartment and land permits nationwide from the Department of Lands. In 2019, 221''apartment and 759 land permits. In 2020, 151 apartments (down 31.7%) and 609 land permits (down 19.8%) were registered.

As of September 30 this year, there were 3,818 apartment and office building management organizations in Thailand, accounting for 0.44% of all active companies (total 885,521) with a total capital of 37.4 billion baht, accounting for 0.17% of all active companies in Thailand (21.5 trillion baht), Mr Napintorn said. He said that this form of legal entity is closely related to the construction segments,''real estate and development of apartment complexes and residential projects. Once apartments and apartment complexes are sold to buyers, management of common spaces is transferred to corporate entities called legal entities to manage apartment complexes or residential projects under Thai law.

One of the factors contributing to the increasing creation of such organizations is the real estate growth trend, Mr. Napintorn said. However, he said, these organizations must continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of customers. To do so, they need to use technology to reduce costs and make the business more competitive.