Showing 1 - 10 of 489
Couple lifted out of anguish with new home and new lives
Spectrum, Published on 08/01/2012
» Wichean Lumlha was a very happy man during the week of Dec 12-19. It was a very special time for him and his wife Lamyai Bunlead as they watched their new home being built by Habitat for Humanity Thailand in Mahasorn village in Lop Buri's Ban Mi district after losing their old one to last year's devastating floods.
Dwindling supply gives landlords the upper hand
Spectrum, Published on 15/01/2012
» The current down cycle in the Bangkok office market continues to provide occupiers with the opportunity to realise significant savings. However, with continued demand and very limited new supply, the market is likely to soon move to the upturn stage of the rental cycle.
As doors open, businesses face a formidable frontier
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 29/01/2012
» As Myanmar trades political reforms in return for an end to economic sanctions, businesses big and small are queuing for access to the region's last closed economy. Entry will be dictated by political connections, financial clout, further reforms and necessity.
Factors that could waylay your wealth
Spectrum, Andrew Wood, Published on 05/02/2012
» Last week, we looked at the devastating effects inflation can have on the real value of your wealth. We did so in terms of both its capital value and your ongoing income requirement, which invariably increases as time goes by.
The downside of hotel oversupply
Spectrum, Published on 26/02/2012
» Those living in Bangkok will surely notice that there is a new hotel opening almost every month on average. Many may wonder why the city's hotel supply keeps growing given the frequent talk of oversupply, without any signs of slowing down. As of the third quarter of last year, there were a total of 30,815 hotel rooms in downtown Bangkok and a further 8,664 rooms in the pipeline to be completed by 2014, representing a 28% increase in existing supply.
Grime and punishment: deluge victims still bailing out battered homes
Spectrum, Published on 04/03/2012
» There is a line scarring almost every building, post and fence along the northern and western outskirts of Bangkok. Brown, filthy and marinated in mould _ it jumps across highways and canals, staining walls, poles, pillars and fences, stretching across 30 of the capital's districts. It is the water mark of last year's floods, and often the only physical reminder of the fears continuing to reverberate throughout affected communities.
All aboard! city condominium developers follow rail lines
Spectrum, Published on 04/03/2012
» The evolution of Bangkok's property market over the past two decades has closely tracked the development of rail mass transit, with a huge increase in condominium supply along BTS and MRT routes. As new rail lines and extensions slowly take shape, condominium developers are looking farther afield to the suburbs, where single houses and townhouses used to dominate the market.
Govt 'holds vulnerable underwater to keep big business afloat'
Spectrum, Supara Janchitfah, Published on 18/03/2012
» Those whose homes and farms were ravaged by last year's floods are fuming over government compensation plans that they say unfairly favour big business at their expense. About 2.23 billion baht will go to build a 77km floodwall around Rojana Industrial Park and 728 million baht and 700 million baht, respectively, has been earmarked to build floodwalls around Bang Pa-in and Nava Nakorn industrial estates. Many of society's most vulnerable who lost nearly everything in the floods _ including labourers, small farmers, slum dwellers and home-based workers _ are entitled to a mere 5,000 baht in compensation.
Dawei feeling pains of development and displacement
Spectrum, Published on 18/03/2012
» Thi Cho had been having sleepless nights since a small fishing community not far from her home was relocated a week earlier to make way for the multi-billion-baht Dawei development project.
Taxes in Thailand XV: Social security _ part one
Spectrum, Published on 15/04/2012
» Although Social Security may not strictly be defined as a tax, we're covering it in our series on taxes. Why? Because it's a deduction from one's salary, and withheld the way income tax is.