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Hong Kong’s protest rallies force Thai developer to defer sales launch of ultra luxury apartments in Bangkok

  • More than half of the condo’s foreign buyers from Hong Kong and mainland China
  • Strict capital controls in the mainland means money for overseas investments must pass through Hong Kong

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The Residences at Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok. Photo: SCMP/Handout
Daryl Choo

Magnolia Quality Development Corporation, the developer of an ultra luxury apartment complex in Thailand, said it had to put off the marketing plan to sell the remaining units of its project in Hong Kong, as 11 weeks of protest rallies in the city showed no signs of letting up.

At The Residences at Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok, a 52-storey ultra-luxury condominium completed last week, about 30 per cent had been sold to foreign buyers, of which the majority were from Hong Kong and mainland China. About 85 per cent of the units have been sold, behind the developer’s original target.

“For the [remaining] 15 per cent, we planned to market more in China and Hong Kong … but with the recent situation in Hong Kong, we have to wait,” said the developer’s vice-president of marketing Peachpattha Pakakan, in a phone interview.

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The postponement shows how Hong Kong’s worst political crisis, sparked by popular protest against a controversial extradition bill, is spreading in its business impact and hitting the city’s economy hard, as the stand-off between protesters and the government approaches its third month. Thailand’s ultra-luxury condominium sales, already affected by the US-China trade war and slowdown in the global economy, could be further weighed down.

A unit at The Residences starts from 47 million baht (US$1.53 million) and up to 450 million baht.

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