While visible signs of rampant development aren't yet ap-parent, all indications point to a Krabi region property market on the verge of exploding. Property prices, says Robert Reynolds of legal and real-estate firm Krabi Consultants, have been increasing by 20-100 percent every year for the last five years in Krabi Province.

Located two hours from Phuket on the southernmost side of the Phra Nang peninsula, Krabi Province is characterized by breathtaking 1,000-foot limestone pinnacles jutting from the earth. The rugged jungle terrain spreads down the inland coast to Trang Province and covers over 130 islands.

Fuelling the opti-mism in property deve-lopment in Krabi Province is the current 700 million baht airport expansion project, slated for com-pletion in May 2005. The new Krabi airport, with its international terminal and expanded runways that can accommodate direct airbus flights from abroad, thrusts the region into a whole new realm of tourism potential. Paisarn Jinacharn, the director of Krabi International Airport, expects arrivals to increase by over 100 percent in its first year of operation as an international airport. Already last year, with the addition of direct daily flights from just Singapore and Malaysia, arrivals increased almost 13 percent.

Tourism-based business people are giddy with enthusiasm for the new airport, and big-name hoteliers such as the Hilton, Sofitel and the Central groups, following the lead of the Sheraton Krabi Beach Resort, are all moving into the Ao Nang neighborhood to capitalize on this newly emerging market. Property developers in Krabi Province are also rubbing their hands together with glee at the prospect of direct flight to Krabi from European destinations. "The one thing that has kept Krabi Province from being discovered by the world, the way Phuket and Samui were years ago, is direct flights to Krabi from foreign countries," says Bjorn Moller, sales and marketing manager at Island Life Developments, builders of the 28-unit Baan Mai Village project on Koh Lanta. "This new airport takes Krabi Province into the big leagues."

Sharp local investors such a Chuan Phukaoluan, past mayor of Krabi and a prominent local businessman, anticipating Krabi's emergence as the new alternative, have been buying up land in the Ao Nang area for years. Now the time has come. Khun Chuan's new Hat Nappatani project is a billion-baht mega-development that's already broken ground on a 150-rai (24-hectare) parcel of land behind the Ao Nang beachfront. The five-year project effectively creates a new city core for the greater Krabi Town area, with massive commercial, resort and residential zones. The site is surrounded by 90 square kilometres of prime land for future residential developments.

Regional government departments and agencies are busy preparing for the growth. Armed with beefed-up budgets and mandates, they await the onslaught of foreign visitors who may become so enamored with Krabi’s natural beauty that they may decide not to go home. Highways are being widened to four lanes through Phuket and Krabi to Trang at the cost of 43 million baht. Rural roadways will benefit from a cash infusion of 23 million baht; electrical grids and telephones will get some 60 million baht; and new sewage and water systems are being created and upgraded for an outlay of 28 million baht.

While Phuket continues to evolve into a market primarily for mid- to high-end buyers, Krabi Province — and Phang Nga Province, which separates Phuket Province and Krabi provinces — benefit from those buyers now looking outside Phuket for more economical or isolated property and homes. "The people who buy in Krabi are generally not the same as the Phuket market," says Reynolds. "Krabi attracts older people and families who want a quiet existence. They don't want traffic jams and over-development — that's what they're trying to get away from."

Still, Krabi Province is merely taking baby steps when it comes to large property develop-ments designed specifically for foreigners. With the exception of the Ao Nang area and the island of Lanta Yai, multi-unit projects are almost non-existent, when compared to the crowded markets on Phuket and Samui. Even then, most projects currently selling in Ao Nang and Koh Lanta are being developed by local foreigners who've fallen into the property development business due to demand from their foreign visitors.

Maurizio Scarpella, the 5-year owner of Sabai Resort in Ao Nang, decided to build a housing project because customers were constantly asking about homes for sale. His 20-unit Sabai Residence, in the Klong Haeng area, offers ground — and second-floor apartment-style units starting at 1.75 million baht, with plans being drawn up for another 80 units. Golden Mountain Estates, in Klong Muang, is developing five fully furnished three-bedroom villas with sea views for 10 million baht each. Developer Brad McCormack, a three-year resident of Krabi, contends that his lack of buying options when he was looking to buy motivated his move into the property development game.

For many foreigners, living close to the beach remains their dream. But, with very little beachfront or seaview land available on Krabi's coastline, Koh Lanta Yai is starting to attract the attention of homebuyers. This rapidly developing beach resort island, 60 kilometres from Krabi International Airport, is being earmarked for government funding to improve roadways and, possibly, build a new bridge from the mainland. But for now developers have to deal with the island's poor roads and a shaky infrastructure. That hasn't slowed sales of the 18.5 to 30 million baht luxury villas being sold by the Pimalai Pool Villa Development. Twenty-three of their forty units have already been sold on the basis of word-of-mouth marketing alone. Baan Mai Village, a luxury duplex project on Koh Lanta' Long Beach, plan to sell 200 units in the next five years.

"Our villa buyers are split between Thai foreigner investors now," says Franck de Lestapis, general manager of the Pimalai Resort and Spa, the spectacular 5-star centrepiece overlooked by the Pimalai Pool Villa Development. "And, with the new airport, we expect significant increases from 'next door' countries like Singapore."

Still, for the most part, Krabi developers are not yet taking a build-it-and-they-will-come attitude. Sustainable growth is the buzzword echoing through the halls of Krabi government offices. "While the growth of property develop-ment in Krabi Province is very encouraging, and a vast amount of land is still available for further expansion," says Khun Amnuay Saguannam, Krabi's provincial governor, "the government only supports growth that respects our building and environmental laws. However, having said that, property de-velopment during the first quarter in Krabi Town alone increased 142 percent over the same period last year."