Thailand’s home owners will have to pay an average of 100,000 baht to repair each house damaged by flooding this year, compared with 70,000-80,000 baht last year, due to increases in the prices of construction materials, according to Worawut Kanjanakul, president of the Home Builder Association.

He said that the prices of construction materials have increased by as much as 25% this year.

He noted that the increases may mean that home owners reduce the specifications of the materials to cut cost, but at the risk of their repaired houses being unsafe.

Despite the rising cost of construction materials, Worawut said that the home building business is growing faster than expected, especially in Thailand’s north-eastern region, where building of expensive houses is on the rise, compared construction of those ranging in price from 2.5-3 million baht per unit, which has dropped as much as 10-15%.

If the economy rebounds in the next two years, however, he said he expects an increase in the demand for lower priced houses.

The Home Builder Association has recently signed a memorandum of understanding, with the Faculty of Engineering at Chulalongkorn University, to draw up a standards for home building, to be used as a guideline for contractors in the building of safe houses, he said.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service