Thailand’s answer to Australia’s Gold Coast and Florida’s South Beach, Pattaya is growing its reputation as an international leisure destination. Popular amongst astute local investors and attracting attention from every continent, it stands apart from other destinations with its modern lifestyle and activities, tropical climate, accessible locations and expanding facilities.
Needless to say, it is quickly developing a reputation for being the hottest ticket on the table for property investors from around the region, including Singapore and Hong Kong.
With more than six million tourists a year and this figure increasing every year, Pattaya, situated just two hours from Thailand’s capital, has long been known as the country’s premier tourist destination. Today, what was once a simple fishing village, has become Thailand’s second major business centre after Bangkok, attracting five star hotels and resorts and with it, higher spending tourists. Pattaya is no longer just a tourist area.
As Nigel Cornick, Chief Executive Officer for Raimon Land PLC points out, Pattaya is “now an authentic city with permanent residents and communities of foreign retirees, local business owners and workers from nearby industrial estates”. 
Pattaya has also been described as a mini Bangkok. With its world class polo club, golf courses and yacht clubs, it has become a high-end destination complete with international five-star hotels, hospitals, schools and high quality restaurants catering to every taste. The city is also a rising star in the international yachting scene, with the 2007 Top of the Gulf Regatta attracting more than 500 sailors to what is fast becoming one of the highest profile events of its kind in Southeast Asia.
The opening of the new Suvamabhumi International Airport too, just 90 minutes drive from the centre of Pattaya, has cemented the city’s evolution from small fishing village to its place in the heart of one of Thailand’s fastest growing economic regions.
Property investors, whether local, regional or global, looking for opportunities to secure future returns from rental income or capital growth will not be disappointed. Indeed, with continued growth in housing construction permits since 2004, which grew to the approval of 3.9 million square metres in 2006, Pattaya can rightfully boast a more than healthy property market that since 2004 has witnessed a growth of more than 440%. Couple this with strong demand for centrally located quality units, fine views and a tropical lifestyle and what results is an instant recipe for success.
Current market conditions and new developments funded by international financial institutions, are attracting investors from around the globe. What’s more, with Pattaya’s ability to offer a host of international sports and leisure activities alongside all the conveniences of a modern cosmopolitan city, the future signals a wave for high-end residential property investors. 
Raimon Land director of operations eastern seaboard, Rajneeporn Bishop is quick to point out the opportunities for local investors from Bangkok.
“Local Bangkok investors know it’s getting easier to drive from Bangkok to Pattaya for a weekend, but the location within Pattaya is very important for them. I am Thai and I am a buyer in Pattaya myself and am living here now because of the lifestyle I can enjoy. Property values in Pattaya have been steadily rising so I have a number of options: I can live here for the lifestyle, or I can sell my investment at a higher price or get good rental rates for it”.
However, the diversity of people coming to Pattaya is another one of the city’s strengths.
“We have had around 30 different nationalities who have bought into our projects, so that indicates that there is great demand for Pattaya from a diverse range of countries”, adds Cornick.
And while tourism is likely to remain a key driver in the city’s prosperity, one of the added attractions for regional investors from places like Hong Kong and Singapore is that more meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition (MICE) business is being attracted to the destination. 
Drawn by the expansive facilities at the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall, which hosts 4,851 square metres of event space capable of accommodating up to 5,800 delegates fir a theatre-style convention or 2,100 for banquets, business people from around the region are clearly seeing the city as not only an attractive getaway destination and lucrative addition to their investment portfolio, but also as a viable new destination for business.
With Raimon Land a key player in the development of Pattaya, and arguably the first international company to raise the bar on five star luxury with the launch of Northshore in 2004, a new wave has been triggered in upmarket beachfront developments.
Indeed, the 187-unit Northshore development sold out long before its 2006 opening and capital gains of 40-80 per cent have already been achieved on units originally selling in the THB70,000-90,000 per square metre range. Rental yields have been averaging 6-10 per cent per annum and buyers at Northshore have enjoyed a capital increase of 30 per cent per year on their property.
Fast forward to 2008 and sales at Northpoint, one of Raimon Land’s current projects located in North Pattaya, have hit the THB3 billion barrier, taking total sales to 64 per cent of the targeted THB5 billion. The 376-unit project, located in two towers on a 12-rai beachfront site at Wongamart, was launched in 2006 and as one of the most sought after developments in the area has to date achieved an average per square metre price of THB122,069 on the 265 units sold. 
With over 1,000 workers on site daily, fit-out works, window and door system installations as well as mechanical, electrical and plumbing works are all progressing well. Internal partition walls have passed the 25th floors of both towers, and floor tiling has progressed to level five. The car park and mechanical and electrical building structures are close to completion and the structure of both towers is well on course for completion by the end of the year.
At the July launch of The Lofts Southshore, Raimon Land’s most recent project, buyers bought 61 of the units released for a total value of THB731.81 million, setting a new average per square metre record for Pattaya. Perched on a hillside in the Khao Patamnak area overlooking Pattaya Bay, the Southshore development is further testament to the developer’s commitment to providing high-quality, affordable properties that combine traditional notions of resort living with a modern urban lifestyle.
With prices starting at THB2.9 million, condominiums at the 720-unit development range from 33 square metre studios to one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 58-169 square metres. Duplexes are also available, as well as spacious 282-308 square metre penthouses which come complete with their own private gardens. With construction starting in the fourth quarter of 2008 and completion date set for 2011, the development promises to combine quality modern urban design with functionality in a desirable and tropical location.
Since its restructuring in 2002, Raimon Land has been regarded as one of Thailand’s most proactive property development companies. By establishing new standards in design, convenience, functionality and value in Thai property development, the company has equipped itself managerially and financially to pursue its business objectives through the formation of partnerships with resourceful and experienced investors and suppliers.
Buyers of Raimon Land’s Pattaya properties, whether local, regional or global, are well aware of the advantages of investing in an internationally renowned company who they can trust in, and who can deliver. It comes as no surprise then, that Raimon Land have chosen to partner with world-class construction congolmerage Bouygues, who have recently opened an office in Pattaya, the company’s first move outside of Bangkok. Bouygues-Thai managing director, Jean-Mairie Verbrugghe, commented that Pattaya was the first region outside of Bangkok that was seeing high-quality construction, adding that Pattaya was central to the economic growth not just in the city but also the entire eastern seaboard region. 
“There are no signs that Pattaya will not continue to benefit from increased international investment and a changing image of the city”, he added.
Formed in 1990, Bouygues-Thai is recognised for its fast track design and build projects and with over 20 years experience in Thailand, has developed a strong reputation for quality and reliability. When Bangkok Land awarded Bouygues-Thai the US$ 720 million contract for the construction of Muang Thong Thani new town in 1990, involving 2 million square metres of residential and industrial buildings, it was regarded as Asia’s largest contract ever awarded on a private basis.
Since then the company has built up an impressive portfolio, which will no doubt give investors in Pattaya added confidence in the quality of their investment market and optimise value for both the consumer and the shareholder. Clearly, Bouygues-Thai’s involvement in Raimon Land’s Northpoint development might be just the beginning of what may well turn out to be the start of an impressive track record for the construction company in Thailand’s eastern seaboard region.
For an up to date analysis on property investment in Pattaya go to http://www.raimonland.com/RLthV2/mr_whyinvest.php. Available in English and Thai.
For more up to date information on Raimon Land’s current development projects in Pattaya go to http://www.theloftssouthshore.com/ and http://www.northpointpattaya.com