High-value canines

Imagine a decent house in a quiet neighbourhood with a value of two million baht. Now imagine the same house in a neighbourhood with dogs barking an average of five minutes out of every hour. It’s no stretch to expect the valuation of the noisy house would be less. I estimate by 15%.

Now extend that analogy to all dwellings in Thailand, at least half of which have problems with noise, particularly barking dogs.

Such hypotheticals may seem like a joke, but let’s look at the basic components: there are tens of millions of dogs in Thailand. Dogs are in every neighbourhood. I’ve met more than a few folks, mostly farang, who will not rent or buy a place to reside in if there are barking dogs nearby. If a rental is not rentable, then its value tanks. Same if a house or apartment for sale is not readily sellable.

In a country of 65 million people, there are roughly 10 million houses and apartments. Let’s extend my formula to estimate those dwellings have an average worth of 1 million baht, and half of them have problems with barking dogs. According to my 15% estimate, Thailand’s real estate values are depressed by over 5 trillion baht (US$154 billion) due to barking dogs.

And yes, I have secured two rural proper- ties in northern Thailand, and both have sustained (20-plus years and counting) problems with packs of dogs barking at all hours. If I was Thai, I would poison the dogs, but I don’t want to harm animals. I would rather their masters would be decent neighbours, but that’s a stretch. It doesn’t help that in Thailand, there are no laws (or at least none enforced) banning annoying noises.

KEN ALBERTSEN