(Fixes typo in lead paragraph to ‘lender,’ not ‘leader.’)<\/p>\n
BANGKOK, May 27 (Reuters) – Thailand\u2019s housing market showed recovery signs in the first quarter of 2026, the \u200cstate housing lender said on Wednesday, with transaction volumes rising on government \u200cstimulus even as gains in value lagged, underscoring weak purchasing power.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The outlook remains fragile, with \u200brising energy costs linked to Middle East war, soft domestic demand and a pullback in foreign buying expected to weigh on the sector through the rest of the year, the Government Housing Bank said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The housing market is expected \u200cto decline slightly in 2026 \u2060due to energy costs and inflation, though declines will be limited by government stimulus, an extended loan-to-value easing for another year \u2060and fee cuts for certain homes, the bank said.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Foreign condominium demand weakened sharply in January-March, with transfers down about 17% year-on-year in both volume and value, though \u200bforeigners still \u200baccounted for a significant share of transactions.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u200bChinese buying declined steeply, by \u200c43% in value, while Russian demand grew, with foreign activity concentrated in Bangkok, Chonburi and Phuket, particularly in higher-end segments.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The bank expects a mild contraction in 2026, with transfers seen down 1.1% in volume and 2.3% in value, and new mortgage lending projected to fall 1.6%.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Residential unit transfers rose 11.2% year-on-year in \u200cthe first quarter, while value increased a more \u200bmodest 3.1%, highlighting a shift towards lower-priced homes.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u200bHigher energy and construction costs, \u200bdriven by geopolitical tensions, are weighing on household purchasing power, \u200cit said.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Thailand’s household debt was 16.44 \u200btrillion baht ($504.45 billion) \u200bat the end of last year, or 86.7% of GDP, among Asia’s highest levels, dragging on consumption and growth.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Housing loans are starting to recover \u200bafter a prolonged downturn, \u200cwith new mortgage lending rising 11.1% year-on-year to about 122 billion baht \u200bin the first quarter.<\/p>\n
($1 = 32.5900 baht)<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Kitiphong Thaichareon, Orathai Sriring \u200band Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Martin Petty)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Fixes typo in lead paragraph to ‘lender,’ not ‘leader.’) BANGKOK, May 27 (Reuters) – Thailand\u2019s housing market showed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[174],"tags":[79,25663,179,18,219364,219366,7336,19,17,79386,219365,391],"class_list":["post-505075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-domestic-demand","tag-economy","tag-eire","tag-government-housing-bank","tag-government-stimulus","tag-housing-market","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-purchasing-power","tag-rising-energy-costs","tag-thailand"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116646402428500698","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}