About the company
Nova Group is a privately held Pattaya developer that came to residential property from the hotel business. According to its company profile in public listings, it started operating in Pattaya in 1994 with the Nova Lodge Hotel (formerly Amari Nipa Lodge), completed the Nova Park serviced apartments in 2000 and then, responding to tenants who wanted to buy at the same standard, launched its first condominium, Nova Mirage in Wongamat. The company is not listed and publishes no accounts, so most of what is known comes from management interviews in the local press and from public listings.
In a 2013 interview with Pattaya Mail, management listed six operating hotels, including Nova Park, Nova Gold and Amari Nova Suites. Public listings currently attribute ten completed condominium projects with roughly 3,460 units to Nova Group, delivered between 2007 and 2018.
What their projects are like
The hotel background shows in the product. From the start Nova marketed its buildings as apartments with hotel-style facilities and service, aimed partly at owners who rent out. Formats vary: much of the portfolio is eight-storey low-rise (Nova Mirage, Serenity Wongamat, Nova Ocean View, the Grand Avenue Residence blocks), alongside high-rise towers such as The Cliff on Pratumnak Hill and The Palm Wongamat on the beach.
The locations cover most of the city: Wongamat and Naklua in the north, Pratumnak, central Pattaya around Soi Buakhao, and Na Jomtien in the south. In the same 2013 interview the company said The Cliff and Nova Ocean View had won awards at the 2011 Thailand Property Awards, and Pattaya Mail reported a Highly Commended award for The Cliff at the Asia Pacific Property Awards.
Projects in Thailand
- Nova Mirage Wongamat — the group’s first residential project: three low-rise blocks, 189 units, completed in 2007.
- Nova Ocean View — a boutique building of 78 units on Pratumnak Soi 6, 2011.
- The Cliff Pattaya — a 27-storey tower with 426 units near Cosy Beach on Pratumnak, 2013.
- The Palm Wongamat — two beachfront towers of up to 46 storeys with 544 units, 2015.
- Serenity Wongamat (152 units) and Nam Talay in Na Jomtien (517 units), both completed in 2015.
- Grand Avenue Residence — six eight-storey blocks with 788 units on Soi Buakhao 15, 2018 (the project’s official site names Marsiano Group as its developer).
In 2014 the group also opened sales at North Beach, a 25-storey tower in Naklua, and announced The Orient Jomtien Resort & Spa as a joint project with Matrix Development.
What buyers should check
Almost everything Nova built is now a resale purchase, and the buildings span more than a decade in age. For the older ones, such as Nova Mirage and Nova Ocean View, ask the juristic person for the sinking-fund balance and its plans for roofs, façades, lifts and pools. Common-area fees vary noticeably from one Nova building to another, so compare them before you shortlist.
If you are buying to rent out, find out how letting works in that particular building today: whether there is an active rental or hotel-style programme, who runs it and how an owner can leave it. Foreign quota deserves attention too. In 2014 Nova told Pattaya Mail that Russian buyers made up about 35% of its customers and as much as 60% in some projects, so in the popular buildings the 49% foreign quota may already be used up; a foreigner can then only buy a unit already registered in foreign name. Finally, in large complexes such as Grand Avenue Residence (788 units) or Nam Talay (517) there are usually many similar units on the resale market. That helps when negotiating, but when you sell, view, floor and condition will decide how quickly the deal closes.
