Welcome to the Bangkok Condo Finder round up. I’m Derren Stephens.

While Thailand’s economy as a whole remains stagnant the Global Property Guide has reported significant rises in rental yields over the past year for larger apartments in the more popular areas of Bangkok for foreigners.

Those areas, classed as upscale residential, are centred around Sukhumvit Road, Silom, Sathorn, Riverside, Rama III, and Central Lumpini.

According to Global Property Guide report, published in April, rental yields in Bangkok range from five to 6.8 percent with smaller apartments earning higher yields than bigger apartments.

Data released by the Bank of Thailand noted housing starts across the country dropped to 6,227 units in February, down from the 7,211 units which commenced in January.

That drop of almost 14 percent from the previous month is the lowest figure registered in Thailand since the beginning of 2013.

Over the last year, housing starts in October 2014 at 20,127 units, the highest monthly level this decade.

Among the factors impacting the demand for housing is the level of benchmark interest rates. Since 2000 the benchmark interest rate has averaged 2.43 percent. Since January the benchmark interest rate has been lowered from two percent to 1.5 percent.

There was a belief that once a stable government was in place in Bangkok, the market would see further recovery. Yet housing starts have not been as robust as might have been predicted.

Thailand is also suffering a labour shortage, and skilled tradespeople are in heavy demand. So, while many developers may be keen to expand and add to their projects, they are hampered by being unable to recruit sufficient numbers of skilled workers as well as unskilled labourers.

Nonetheless, economic forecasters are predicting housing starts to increase in 2016 to an average of almost 9,000 units per month. The longer trend is expected to see housing starts trend at over 7,000 units per month.

Certainly property deals and joint ventures between major local and international developers are continuing apace. Among the most prominent of recent deals was one between AP and the Mitsubishi Estate Group of Japan worth just over 2.5 billion baht.

The Japanese company is gearing towards serious expansion across the ASEAN region with plans to spend around 155 billion baht, primarily focusing on Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore.

Another powerhouse pairing is that between Sansiri PLC and BTS Group Holdings, who recently announced they were going to launch their first condominium project under a joint venture company.

Most of the significant future building action is centering on the Bangkok Skytrain and underground train routes. This has led to sharp increases in land values with property near the Saphan Taksin BTS, as one example, jumping 14 percent annually over the last two years.