The down-market trend in housing production in Bangkok, 1980-87

The private sector in Thailand moved into construction of housing for low-income people in 1986, initiating at least 37 new projects which offered housing at prices ranging from 150 000 to 250 000 Baht. A sales office survey was conducted in all these projects, as part of the Bangkok Land Management Study. A comparison of rates of sale shows that low-cost houses are now selling three times as fast as other land-and-house packages on the market. If we assume that new home buyers are willing to pay 25% of total household income for housing, then households with a monthly income of 6000 Baht can now afford a house in Bangkok. A comparison with conditions in the housing market in 1980 shows that at that time, almost no household with a monthly income of less than 10 000 Baht could afford a house produced by the private sector. One-third of the population living in slums can now afford to own a small house in the suburbs. -from Authors