Nobody has a crystal ball and world business post Corona, along with property markets worldwide are facing an unpredictable future. Thailand’s property market has had a roller coaster ride over the last 15 years and has had to deal with army coups, red and yellow shirt demonstrations, the death of their beloved King, the army taking control of government and an ongoing strong Thai Baht. Yet even with all this to cope with the property market has always bounced back. So maybe the Thailand property market is so accustomed to ups and downs that it will be in a stronger position to survive the corona virus turmoil than many other places in the world.
Due to the strength of the Thai Baht I do believe that many people who had decided to retire to Thailand put those plans on hold and have been sitting on the fence watching and waiting to see if the Baht will weaken and it is also my belief that the western economies will bounce back quicker post corona than the economy here which is so heavily dependent on tourism. A lot of people around the world will be spending their savings just to survive during this period and will go into debt, so when things return to normality a holiday in the sun will not be affordable for some time.
Also, due to the strength of the Baht Thailand’s exports have also been suffering for the last couple of years which will also put their economy under more pressure to rebound post corona which is why I believe we will see a softening of the Thai Baht. For those people who have been waiting and watching this could be the moment that they decide to make the move as they have come to realise that their retirement years could have been so easily taken away from them and they will think if we don’t do it now we may never do it.
I think that the corona virus has shown us that Bill Gates is correct when he said that the major threat to our way of life will come form viruses and not from war and for those of us lucky enough to be self-isolated in our villas in Hua Hin with nice gardens, swimming pools and with fantastic all year round weather, we can look at the news reports coming from our home countries and realise just how lucky we were that we made the decision to emmigrate to Thailand.
We can only posture as to reasons why South East Asia hasn’t been affected too much by the virus. It is maybe due to the heat: the virus doesn’t seem to have had such a destructive influence here during hot season as well as the fact that just by their tradition they do not shake hands to pass the virus on to other people. Also, due to the heat most people shower at least twice a day and wash their hands more frequently as a way of life.
So I do believe it’s not all doom and gloom and that the Hua Hin property market will bounce back post corona and I do believe that due to its size and location in Thailand that Hua Hin does offer a better lifestyle than the larger tourist areas in Thailand. Check out my other blogs discussing why I believe Hua Hin is the best place to live in Thailand.
