Thailand's homebuilders face tough times as crisis drags on

[BANGKOK] Political unrest and an over-supplied US$20 billion real estate market in Thailand are the latest challenges threatening developers who are cancelling new launches in the hopes of staving off a bubble.

New project launches are expected to drop as much as 30 per cent this year, which should help ease concerns about oversupply, but other sectors of the market may suffer.

The number of new housing units hit a record high last year with a boom in condominiums, which accounted for 58 per cent of the market.