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New realty appraisals to be declared starting next year will be based on market price data as well as projections of economic development and inflation rates.

The aim is to ensure that values show as closely as possible actual market stipulations, according to Amnuay Preemanawong, the deputy director-general of the Treasury Department.

Estate appraisals set by The Treasury Department and The Land Department are used as a baseline not only for market transactions, but also for tax intentions and collateral assessments by local financial institutions.

Appraisals are revised every four years on a nationwide base, with the newest values to take come into force from 2008 through 2011.

The Treasury Department, which directs public lands on behalf of the government, is amenable for complete the valuation survey.

For the new survey, the department has break its work into three phases.

First it will modify values for land plots that are already in state databases, based on the most recent transaction data for adjacent properties as well as economic statistics over the earlier three years.

Second, it will fix appraisals for 400,000 plots for the first time, mostly representing sites in Surin, Chiang Rai and Buri Ram provinces. The third phase will concern assessing values based on wholesale blocks.

Eventually, the department anticipates to compose a nationwide database with price and geographic data both for several plots as well as broader blocks.

The prime survey is expected to be done in July, after which the department will meet with native working groups to finalize the facts starting from August.

Mr Amnuay said the new appraisals would not perforce result in increases in all areas, specially in provincial areas.

The department tracks 28 million realty plots nationwide, of which two million are located in Bangkok.

All property in Bangkok has already been classified on a plot base, although most provinces still have appraisals based on block zones.

Appraisals in some districts, for instance Silom and Yaowarat roads in Bangkok, commonly post little swap from one survey to the next, due in part to the relatively few transactions registered in the market.

As a consequence, official appraisals in some of the most costly areas of Bangkok are listed at around 600,000 baht per square wah, even though private valuers would assign values of up to one million baht for the same plot.

For territories with comparatively few market transactions to serve as a baseline, the Treasury Department will turn to other indices to appraise land values, such as rental and lease rates for a district and values attached to comparable plots in the district.

Under the latest appraisals schedule, first used in 2004 and set to expire this year, the peak values have been assigned to lands along Silom Road, at 340,000 to 600,000 baht per square wah.

Yaowarat Road in Chinatown is valued at 260,000 to 510,000 baht per square wah, and Thaniya Road off Rama IV is valued at 340,000 to 510,000 baht.

The public can acquire information on the appraisals method, including data for individual plots, on the Treasury Department website: http://www.treasury.go.th

A condominium is an apartment structure in Thailand is a multi unit building registered under the Thailand Condominium Act in which each unit is owned independently by the people living in it, but also containing shared common areas. Condos in Thailand are regulated in the Condominium Acts and registered with the Thailand Land Department. Each condominium unit has a condominium unit title deed. This document states the owner of the unit, the exact size, voting right in the condominium juristic person’s conference and if there are any third party rights registered against the unit such as a rental agreement or mortgage. The unit title agreement is an important document officially administrated at the local land office where the condominium is located.

Non-natives are under the Thailand condominium act allowed to own condominium apartment units (condos) freehold in Thailand. There is after all one restriction which aims to limit non-native freehold ownership of condos in Thailand; not more than 49% of the all-out floor space of all units in a condominium building combined can be foreign owned. In case of 100 equal units 49 can be foreign owned, the other 51 must be owned by Thai citizens.

The units in a condominium project exceeding the 49% foreign freehold ownership allocation may be sold under a registered leasehold to non-natives. There is no restriction for foreigners renting or leasing real estate in Thailand. The arrangement for hire, contract or rental surpassing 3 years must be registered in the foreigner’s name on the condo unit title agreement.

The main condition under the Condominium Act for the purchase of a freehold condo by a foreigner (non resident) in Thailand is that the full purchase price for the condominium unit (which may not be less that the appraised value) for the condo unit must have been remitted into Thailand in foreign currency (see current exchange rates Bank of Thailand). The handling bank in Thailand must transfer the amount of foreign currency into Thai baht and will issue a Foreign Exchange Transaction form for amount exceeding 20,000 USD or for lesser amounts a credit note and confirmation message of the transferred amounts on demand. Without evidence of remittance of the full purchase price into Thailand in foreign currency the land department cannot register ownership in the foreigner’s name.