Launches of new residential supply in Greater Bangkok will decline for a third consecutive year in 2025, largely attributed to an increase in unsold units carried over from 2024, an uncertain economy and high household debt, according to Kasikorn Research Center.

Last week the centre forecast that there would be a 0.7% year-on-year decrease in new residential supply launched in Greater Bangkok in 2025, down from around 61,450 units launched last year.

The figure for 2024 shrank by 39.5% from around 102,000 units in 2023, which had dropped 5.2% from around 107,000 units in 2022. The 2022 figure represented a 77% surge from a pandemic-era low of around 60,000 units in 2021.

In 2024, all housing types saw a decrease in new supply, led by condos which fell 43%, followed by townhouses (down 41.5%), and single detached houses (down 20.8%).

Despite a significant drop in new supply, the centre expects that the cumulative number of unsold units will not decline, likely exceeding 230,000 units more than the total recorded at the end of 2023.

Prasert Taedullayasatit, president of the Thai Condominium Association, said market sentiment last year was very poor as home purchasing power was weakened by low economic growth and high household debt.

Geopolitical conflicts, high interest rates and high mortgage rejection rates carried over from 2023, along with lending curbs that remained a major obstacle, were making it difficult for homebuyers to complete unit transfers.

Source: Bangkok Post

The Indonesian government has blocked a billion-dollar real estate development outside Jakarta that was to include luxury properties under US President Donald Trump’s brand, citing environmental damage, officials said Friday.

Trump-branded hotels, residences and a golf course were part of the blueprint for MNC Lido City – an entertainment park project by a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned construction firm Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC).

The ambitious deal was signed between MCC and Indonesia’s entertainment firm MNC Land in 2018.

The area, set to be part of a “world-class integrated tourism” resort, was expected to be backed by up to $500 million in Chinese government loans.

But Indonesia’s Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq ordered the halt on Thursday after a field inspection discovered several violations.

The ministry’s senior official Rizal Irawan told a news conference on Friday that the project’s “land clearing activities allegedly have caused sedimentation and shallowing in the Lake Lido.”

Satellite images by the ministry showed Lake Lido West Java province has more than halved in size since the construction began – down from 24.7 hectares (61 acres) to 11.9 hectares.

Authorities also found significant discrepancies between the approved environmental plans and the actual construction by Indonesia’s MNC Land subsidiary, PT MNC Land Lido.

Source: AFP

The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), dubbed China’s “artificial sun,” maintained a steady-state high-confinement plasma operation for a remarkable 1,066 seconds on Monday, setting a new world record and marking a breakthrough in the quest for fusion power generation.

The duration of 1,000 seconds is considered a key step in fusion research. The breakthrough, achieved by the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP), greatly improved the original world record of 403 seconds, which was also set by EAST in 2023.

The ultimate goal of an artificial sun is to create nuclear fusion like the sun, providing humanity with an endless, clean energy source, and enabling space exploration beyond the solar system.

Global scientists have worked for more than 70 years on trying to achieve this feat. However, only after reaching temperatures over 100 million degrees Celsius, sustaining stable long-term operation, and ensuring controllability can a nuclear fusion device successfully generate electricity.

“A fusion device must achieve stable operation at high efficiency for thousands of seconds to enable the self-sustaining circulation of plasma, which is critical for the continuous power generation of future fusion plants,” said Song Yuntao, ASIPP director. He emphasized that the fresh record is of monumental significance, representing a crucial step toward the development of a fusion reactor.

Gong Xianzu, head of the division of EAST Physics and Experimental Operations, said they have upgraded several EAST systems since the last round of experiments. For example, the heating system, which previously operated at the equivalent of nearly 70,000 household microwave ovens, has now doubled its power output while also maintaining stability and continuity.

Since starting operation in 2006, EAST has been an open test platform for Chinese and international scientists to conduct fusion-related
experiments and research.

China officially joined the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) program in 2006 as its seventh member. According to the agreement, China is responsible for about 9 percent of the project’s construction and operation — and ASIPP is the main unit of the Chinese mission.

ITER, which is under construction in southern France, will be the world’s largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment device and the largest experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor, once completed.

In recent years, EAST has continuously achieved groundbreaking milestones in the high confinement mode, which serves as the fundamental mode for experimental fusion reactors, including ITER and the future China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR), providing valuable references for the construction of fusion reactors worldwide.
“We hope to expand international collaboration via EAST and bring fusion energy into practical use for humanity,” said Song.

In Hefei, east China’s Anhui Province, where EAST is located, a new generation of experimental fusion research facilities is under construction — aiming to further accelerate the application and development of fusion energy.

Source: Xinhua