PATTAYA : Seized property asset sales in Pattaya so far this year have exceeded the target by 10%, according to Ratchanee Boonrueng, the director of the Legal Execution Department. She said Pattaya's property market and tourism industry were booming despite the slow economy, high oil prices and inflation.

''Pattaya is like Phuket. Most assets [for auction] are good [properties] with good prices and in demand,'' she said.

Foreigners have been most interested in condominiums because they can buy the units legally.

Foreigners are allowed to own up to 49% of a condo building.

Foreigners wanting to buy other property including land, single houses and townhouses have often used nominees or Thai spouses to purchase the assets.

From October 2007 to June 2008, the office posted sales of 1.17 billion baht worth of assets, higher than the target of 999 million baht.

The most significant sales were the Town In Town Hotel on a nine-rai plot in Bang Lamung district with an appraised price of 222 million baht, and 105 units in the STS Beach Resort Jomthien Condominium with an appraised price 130 million baht. Also for sale was a 54-rai plot on Sukhumvit Road in Pattaya with an appraised price of 21 million baht. ''Most of them were seized between 2003 and 2007 as their owners could not service their loans and had to let go of the property collateral,'' she said.

The Legal Execution Department recorded 55.22 billion baht worth of total sales for the first six months of the fiscal year. It had a target of 110 billion baht for the whole year.

The department is in the process of installing a new IT system and developing a data warehouse for around 200 million baht. The project will take two years to complete.