The government should give property for sale in Thailand investors time to adjust and understand the new requirements when changing any laws, says the chief executive of Aquarius Estate Co, a property developer and project management firm.

Yongyuth Chaipromprasith said businesspeople could accept any new regulations or laws, but more time for adjustment is needed.

He was referring to the new Bank of Thailand reserve rule for foreign capital inflows and the imminent changes to the Foreign Business Act (FBA). Both are expected to have an impact on property investment by foreigners.

"Business plans take a long time to prepare," he said.

"The government should give [businesses] some more time to prepare, just as it did with the issue of a city plan. No one was in trouble as they were alert from the pre-launch stage, which aimed to get feedback from everyone before actual implementation."

Since the New Year's Eve bombings in Bangkok, the property market has slowed down, he said.

It was hit again, particularly in tourist destinations, when the government announced changes to the FBA.

Aquarius was not hurt by the measures because it targets Thai investors.

Casavela, a 30-unit hotel condominium worth 500 million baht on Koh Samui, is 70% sold right now.

The company has also offered a guaranteed yield of 6% for three years and accommodation of 60 nights each year for customers.

To make a profit, the hotel needs to have at least 38% occupancy with a room rate of between 12,000 and 15,000 baht per night.

The company plans to use the Casavela business model for the future hotel investments it plans in major tourist destinations, including Chiang Mai, Phuket and Khao Yai.

Mr Yongyuth said that Aquarius had set a revenue target this year at about 350 million baht.

About 80% would be from property project development, and the rest would come from fee-based project management.Last year, it recorded 75 million baht in revenue equally from project development and project management.

This year, the company plans to manage two condominiums worth a combined three billion baht for the listed developer Preuksa Real Estate. They are a 2.4-billion-baht project located in the Rat Burana area along the Chao Phraya River, and a 600-million-baht building on Soi Ratchadapisek 20.

It plans to manage a condominium and townhouse project worth between 500 million and 1.5 billion baht within the fourth quarter of this year. It also wants to develop a property project worth 500 million baht by the end of the year after The Clover Thong Lor is completed in October 2007.

In a related development, the real estate and investment management firm Jones Lang LaSalle said the prospects for the market in 2007 had been weakened to some degree after the unexpected market jolts over the past month have negatively affected investor sentiment and the Bangkok property market despite strong fundamentals.

"Many property sales and leasing transactions planned for the first half of this year may be postponed to the second half as buyers and tenants wait and see what happens next," said Suphin Mechuchep, JLL's managing director for Thailand.