Condos built since 2007 are earthquake safe – Thaicondo

In a bid to allay concerns among condo residents and owners over the safety of condominiums, in the aftermath of Friday’s earthquake, the Thai Condominium Association (Thaicondo) offered an assurance today that all tall residential buildings constructed since 2007 were designed to withstand earthquakes.

Association president Prasert Taedullayasatit said in a statement that the cracks being found in the walls of some condo buildings and the detachment of wall tiles and ceiling boards are regarded as minor damage that do not indicate damage to the structure of the building.

He said that condominium residents can send pictures of the damage from yesterday’s earthquake to the association via the @Traffy.fondue Line account, so volunteer engineers from the association can help assess the safety of their rooms free of charge.

There were about 230,000 housing and condominium units, worth an estimated 1.45 trillion baht, which remained unsold at the end of last year. Of these, about 130,000 are houses and 97,000 are condominium units, mostly selling for less than 10 million baht per unit.

Some real estate developers have reduced their investments in new condominium projects, due to this glut of unsold units.