Dusit Thani Starts Selling Luxury Bangkok Residential Project To Singapore Buyers Amid Hotel Losses

Dusit Thani has started marketing its luxury residential skyscraper in central Bangkok to wealthy international buyers in Singapore as the company turns to property development to shore up earnings amid Covid-19-induced losses at its hospitality business.

The 69-story residential tower—which includes the 160-unit high-end Dusit Residences and the 246-unit Dusit Parkside—is part of the Dusit Central Park project, a mixed-use development with hotel, office, residential and retail components being constructed at the site of the former Dusit Thani Bangkok hotel.

The 46-billion-baht ($1.4 billion) project is jointly owned by Dusit Thani and partner Central Pattana, the shopping mall developer controlled by the Chirathivat family, one the richest families in Thailand. Dusit Central Park’s residential skyscraper is expected to be completed in 2025, with the retail, hotel and office components opening in phases in 2024.

Despite the disruptions caused by the pandemic, about 40% of the luxury apartment units at Dusit Central Park have been sold to wealthy Thai investors, La-ead Kovavisaruch, chief investment officer of Dusit Thani, told Forbes Asia in Singapore where the company recently showcased the project to almost 40 high-net worth investors.

“We are delighted to know that one third (of the potential Singapore buyers) showed strong interest in the project and a few of them have already scheduled a trip to Bangkok in late April and June to view the show suites,” La-ead said.

Singapore is a fitting first stop for Dusit Central Park’s international roadshow to market the high-end condominiums to the well-heeled. The number of ultra-high-net worth investors—those with at least $30 million—in the Lion City increased 158% to 4,206 in the five years through 2021, according to property consulting firm Knight Frank. Besides Singapore, the company will also market the project to potential buyers in Hong Kong and the Middle East, aiming to sell about 35% of the residential project to foreigners.

La-ead and her team made the trip to Singapore as soon as the government lifted travel restrictions to the city-state, hoping to entice Singaporeans to purchase a luxury condominium in Bangkok at a fraction of the price of high-end apartments in the Asian financial hub, which is among the world’s most expensive real estate markets. The team had planned to visit Hong Kong this month but the trip has been postponed as the city introduced Covid-19 travel restrictions following a renewed surge in Covid-19 infections.

Dusit Thani is selling the project at an average price of 340,000 baht per square meter, with the one-bedroom unit (about 55 square meters) at Dusit Parkside selling for 16 million baht and a two-bedroom unit (about 120 square meters) at Dusit Residences selling for 40 million baht. One of the penthouse units at Dusit Residences was sold to a Thai buyer for about $6 million, a fraction of the $35 million paid by the buyer of the sole penthouse at CanningHill Piers, a mixed-used project City Developments and CapitaLand are jointly developing along the Singapore River in the Singapore central business district.

While some Thai developers delayed the launch of their residential projects due to the pandemic, Dusit Thani kicked off marketing efforts for Dusit Central Park to Thai investors even as the country battled a resurgence of Covid-19 infections and the real estate industry was saddled with rising inventories of unsold properties.

“With a property development like this one, thoughtful consideration is central to every decision to purchase and potential buyers like to draw comparisons with other projects,” La-ead said. “It’s our team’s duty to communicate the interesting facts about the project to those interested so that they understand the value and the kind of exceptional residential experience that Dusit Central Park has to offer.”

Sales from Dusit Central Park provides the Dusit Thani additional revenues at a time that the hotel business is not doing well because of the pandemic, La-ead said. The hotel industry is among the hardest hit by the pandemic as cities around the world closed off their international borders to curb the further spread of the Covid-19 virus.

Dusit Thani, which owns and manages 320 hotels and resorts across 16 countries, reported a net loss of 945 million baht in 2021 after posting a net loss of 1 billion baht in the previous year. “But hopefully it will come back this year,” La-ead said.