Sena Pivots Real Estate Strategy Amid Uneven Recovery

Kesara Thanyalakphaeak, managing director of Sena Development Public Company, says Thailand's overall economic recovery has not reached all consumer groups evenly. While GDP growth is forecast, people need to feel the improvement through higher incomes and purchasing power, which remains unclear. A major challenge is the K-shaped economy, where growth concentrates in certain sectors or companies while many people see no benefit and feel no economic change, dampening overall consumer spending and purchasing power. "If the economy really improved, people should feel more money in their pockets. We might have 2% GDP growth or more, but if it's highly K-shaped and growth pools in just a few companies while most people get nothing, it's hard to spread the benefit and could cause many social and national problems," she said. The real estate market cannot yet be declared recovered because there are no clear factors reflecting recovery. What is evident is that new supply has fallen from the earlier period when many developers launched projects; now launches are declining and smaller developers are opening fewer projects. Clearing residential inventory takes time, especially subdivisions with longer clearance periods than condominiums because unit prices are higher, while purchasing power still needs time to recover. "From a seller's perspective, the real estate market hasn't improved because we don't know what to point to. The only thing is supply is down." Under market uncertainty, the company cannot base strategy on sales growth alone but must adapt its core real estate business to match changing consumer behavior. Different consumer groups have different readiness—some want to rent, some want a home but cannot yet borrow, some want to try living before buying, while others are ready and want to invest in real estate. The company has shifted from being a real estate developer that builds and sells housing to creating housing options for each stage of a consumer's life. "Why must we only sell outright? Why should someone who wants a home commit to 30 years of occupation? We thought about this constantly and it pushed us to study methods abroad." This led to developing multiple products and services under SENA HOMEWAYS, where the company sees the path to housing not as only sale and transfer of ownership but as starting from rental, trial living, and preparation before ownership or choosing investment. The company designs new products from the "real problems" of consumers.