Finance minister sees need to monitor property sector in 2nd half-year

BANGKOK, July 4 (TNA) – Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Surapong
Suebwonglee on Friday revealed that the government would more closely
monitor the property sector and related sectors in the second half of this year to see whether more action is needed to stimulate the economy.

"In the first half of this year, the property sector still looked
favourable as was demonstrated by successful organisation of property
fairs.

"However, many developers expect stocks of houses built according to former cost factors to run out in the first half of the year," he said.

Dr. Surapong said the ministry would evaluate the property sector's performance in the second half of the year when houses built according to new costs are offered for sale.

The government wants to see whether the higher prices of new houses will make the property sector slow down.

He conceded that the active purchases of property for the time being stems from the expectation that construction costs will rise in tandem with higher fuel prices.

The government has issued an economic stimulus package which includes tax incentives, and ownership transfer and mortgage fee reductions for one year, boosting the property sector since March.

It hopes the package, if successfully implemented, will help boost
economic growth of over 6 per cent this year.