By Andrew Batt:
EXCLUSIVE: Bangkok property buyers and developers are likely to feel the impact from last week’s confirmation from the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) that the Saphan Taksin skytrain station is set to close.
One recent buyer of a riverside unit in the Thai capital told PropertyGuru: “I’m stunned by this news. It was never made clear to me that the station would be disappearing, either by the developer or my lawyer. My property is now significantly further from the mass transit network and I think there are obvious implications to the value of my property.” The buyer declined to be named but hinted that he was considering his legal options.
The station, which serves an estimated 70,000 commuters per day, will be dismantled to ease congestion. Currently a single rail track is in place to carry trains between the Bangkok and Thonburi sides of the Chao Phraya river.
The BMA has said it plans to build a moving walkway to carry commuters the 700 metres from the site of the current station to the next station – Surasak – once the station has been removed.
Property buyers who have purchased units close to Saphan Taksin on the back of proximity to the BTS skytrain network may feel somewhat upset at the news, even though the station was never intended to be permanent. Whether this was made clear to property buyers is not clear, although any due diligence prior to purchasing would have revealed this fact.
Dan Tantisunthorn, Head of Research for Jones Lang LaSalle (Thailand), told PropertyGuru: “Property developments located near the BTS Saphan Taksin station and the Bangrak community have enjoyed convenient access to the BTS system for many years, and therefore will inevitably feel the impact. Nonetheless the magnitude of the impact will vary.”
He added: “On the Pranakorn (Bangkok) side of the river, there are only a small number of modern property developments currently benefiting from immediate access to the station. Within a radius of 800 metres from the station, which remains an acceptable walking distance, there are three office buildings, three hotels, one shopping centre and one serviced apartment. Most of these developments will inevitably lose their competitiveness following the closure of the station.”
A number of property developments, both residential and commercial, have sprung up on the banks of the Chao Phraya river in recent years, taking advantage of the station and shuttle boat services which operate from close to the station.
Tantisunthorn said: “The developments on the Thonburi side of the river may easily solve the issue by switching from the shuttle boat service to the Saphan Taksin station to a shuttle bus service to the new Krung Thonburi station. On the other hand, the developments located along the Pranakorn side of the river may face a more challenging situation because a shuttle bus may not be a solution due to heavy traffic congestion.”
He concluded: “The impact of the temporary operation of the station on land prices has never been clear, as the market should have been aware that there would eventually be a serious effort to remove the station due to the bottleneck it causes.”
Andrew Batt, Regional Group Editor of PropertyGuru, said: “I am not sure how many property buyers knew of the plans to eventually close this station. I’m a six-year veteran of the city and I wasn’t aware. The walkway project will go some way to easing the fears of buyers who have purchased on the back of being located close to the BTS network, however it’s not really clear how values of property in the area will be affected in the short- and medium-term.”
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