Purchasers and developers have until 26 March 2010 to take advantage of the property transfer rebates introduced by the Thai government in 2008.

To revive demand in the real estate market, the Thai government implemented a property transfer incentives policy in 2008. Under the policy, purchasers and developers enjoy rebates on registration fees and specific business tax.

The incentives were valid for one year, but were extended for another year.

Despite the clamour of interested parties to obtain a second extension, the Thai government has announced that the incentives will end on 28 March 2010, and the original rates will again apply. Interested parties, including commercial banks, are urged to register the transfer and/or mortgage of their immovable properties by Friday, 26 March 2010 to take advantage of the reduced rates.

The reduced rates, and the original rates which will be applicable from 29 March 2010 onwards, are as follows:

1. Specific business tax for the sale of all immovable properties for commercial purposes 0.1% of either the actual or government appraisal price (the Base Price), whichever is higher, or 0.11% of the Base Price inclusive of local tax 3% of the Base Price or 3.3% of the Base Price inclusive of local tax

2. Registration fees for the transfer of certain immovable properties, e.g. land under allocation, buildings, buildings with land 0.01% of the government appraisal price 2% of the government appraisal price

3. Registration fees for the mortgage of certain immovable properties excluding office buildings 0.01% of the government appraisal price 1% of the government appraisal price

by Araya Akomsoonthorn

Chiang Mai smoke season

Its the smoke season again and like previous years mountains are not visible from the Chiang Mai city. This is due to slash and burn that still takes place in northern Thailand as well as Burma and Laos.

Here is a great link to see todays air quality. Polution Control Department

update: We are back to normal good air, where PM10 shows under 50 (43.6 Monday 17th May). This year "smoke season" lasted almost 2 months from early March to early May.

New website launched.

After 5 years in business we decided to remodel our website to serve our customers better. Please have a good look and we appreciate all feedback.

We are still working with several new functions and expect to see new features on the site autumn 2010.

Some of the new functions are better and quicker search functions as well as Google Maps for each property. We stop supporting Finnish language, but will still serve in Finnish as well. From now on the site will only be in Thai and English.