Since November there has been a solid recovery in transactions bringing total 2010 transactions to around USD180mn. The clean campaign continues to gain momentum and the island is looking good. The seas have calmed and Christmas week saw up to 15 boats parked off Surin beach including a few 60m +state of the art international boats.

    Increasing Russian interest and arrivals will be one of the big stories of 2011 as is the new discreet demand for the very best villas from some of the worlds richest individuals spending more time in Phuket.
    We are pleased to present new interiors at Mandala near Bangtao beach, a project that continued full steam through 2009 and 2010. Also up at Natai beach we feature a new listing called White Sands that is a completed 6/7 bedroom family beach house with a wide 34 m beach frontage and an optional 1.33 rai (half an acre) plot next door doubling the ocean frontage. At just over USD3mn for house and extra land this is priced to sell quickly and a great opportunity.

     Prime homesites for custom homes are also now in short supply and getting tighter. At waterfall cove on Kamala one 2.2 rai (just under 1 acre) site is offered. This estate is one of the islands most private with only 3 homes on over 4 acres.
www.waterfallcovephuket.com

    2011 is looking interesting with three new very high end launches that are well financed and provide the first new supply of developments in nearly three years.

    A few good deals remain to be had, and with those sales, a vacuum will exist and prices will edge higher.
Phuket property overview
2011 A strong future
   Phuket has been building luxury resort tourism since the Amanpuri was completed and sold villas back in 1988 but it has not been until the last ten years that the demand has really taken off, laying the foundations for the future of Phuket as a luxury and dynamic destination with long term sustainability .

The luxury villa estates with 5-star resort operations, facilities and management such as Amanpuri, Trisara, Andara and Sri Panwa have shown that branded full service residential estates achieve higher pricing, gain stronger sales momentum and have been more sought after in the secondary market, offering original purchases high capital appreciation.

High end Real estate sales in 2010 totaled a very strong USD180mn + making it one of the best years ever so far. The demand is International and most sales have been for very high end branded property, both apartments and villas.

The main sales were at Amanpuri phase three, Andara apartments and resales, Trisara resales and a number of stand alone villas including villa BEYOND that was featured in Indigo 4.

Phuket was fortunate during the crisis as buyers pay all cash with no bank debt so there have been few distress sales. The market is made principally of end users and long term investors and an increasing number of permanent residents escaping capital cities from all over the world continue to choose Phuket as their Asian base, to do business, raise a family, retire or simply invest.

Asian buyers with strong stock markets, better business fuelled by Chinese growth and a back to Rest & Relaxation (R&R) mentality has meant buyers have started buying big villas again.

Hong Kong and Singapore remain our core markets at the high end, although British, German, Dutch and Scandinavian buyers continue to arrive in Phuket to get away from over taxed, cold European countries. The Australian market with its resource boom and direct flights by V and Jetstar is driving new buyers to Phuket and they are now the biggest Phuket visitor by numbers at just under 10% of arrivals.

We expect increasing wealthy Russian buyers as more Russian language specialists now work in Phuket hotels, restaurants, and real estate agencies. Aeroflot announced on 15th October that it is to fly direct to Phuket from Moscow three times a week from December 29 using Airbus A330s

2020 Outlook
    Within 5 hours of this small Island of Phuket lies around 30% of the world's population, with virtually no competition for quality, architecturally inspired, tropical resort Villas. A direct shuttle gets us to Shanghai/ Beijing/Seoul/Taipei and Bombay and within 2 hours lies all of Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and parts of the Indonesian archipelago.

This is a population base of around 220 million residents. In Saigon for example, which has direct flights to Phuket, the city is log jammed with traffic and smothered in pollution. It is looking like many other under-infrastructured, over-populated Asian city where the long term expats and wealthy local nationals seek a quality place to escape to.

With huge population growth over the next 20 years in all major Asian cities this pollution and city degradation will only get worse.

These families, investors and baby boomers are looking for quality of life and a healthier family environment with fresh air, good food and a safe haven.

Phuket offers the full package with world class infrastructure, excellent schools, internet connectivity & lifestyle plus some of the best beaches in the world.

LIMITED SUPPLY
   Phuket has tough low density codes, tough height restrictions limiting building to below 80m from sea level, increasingly limited buildable prime land on the west coast and importantly few resales keeping supply tight. Imagine the pressure on high end property in Phuket with the arrival of a mere 1,000 new luxury buyers/ investors from HK and the Euro zone plus now new markets such as India, China and Russia and you have a powerful concoction.

   Indigo Real Estate expects that the impact of this increasing demand on local property prices will be dramatic pushing prices substantially higher in 2011/2012 making it one of the top performing real estate markets in the world.