Ten questions we get most often from foreign buyers considering Phuket and Bangkok. Honest answers, including where the rules are stricter than expected.
Yes — but the structure depends on what you're buying.
Condominiums: foreigners can own on full freehold title, registered in your own name at the Phuket Land Office. Up to 49% of any condominium building can be held by foreigners under Thai law. There's no time limit, no residency requirement, no annual conditions. You can sell, gift, or pass to heirs the same as a property in London or Miami.
Villas and land: cannot be owned in your own name. The standard structure is a registered long-term lease — 30 years at the Land Office, with two 30-year renewal options (effectively up to 90 years of use).
Freehold condo: your name is on the title at the Land Office. No expiry date. Full ownership rights — sell, gift, transfer, mortgage. Same as freehold ownership in any developed market.
Leasehold villa: a registered lease, typically 30 years with two 30-year renewal options. The land remains in Thai hands but you have full use rights for the lease term, including the right to build, modify, sublet, and sell the leasehold to another foreign buyer.
Both structures are legitimate and well-established. The choice depends on whether you're buying a condo (freehold) or a villa (leasehold). For investment-focused buyers with a 10+ year horizon, freehold is structurally cleaner. For lifestyle buyers wanting a villa with land and pool, leasehold is the only option — and it works.
No. Most foreign buyers complete remotely, and the process is well established.
The transaction requires three things: funds wired from abroad with proper FET (Foreign Exchange Transaction) documentation, due diligence by a licensed Thai lawyer, and signing of contracts. Powers of attorney can be arranged for the actual Land Office registration if you can't be physically present.
That said, we recommend at least one viewing before a final decision when possible — even a 48-hour visit. For off-plan, we can arrange virtual walkthroughs of the show units and developer offices.
Yes — and the difference favours the buyer in off-plan.
For off-plan from a licensed developer, Thai consumer protection law caps how much of the government fees a developer is allowed to pass to the buyer. Most of the transactional taxes are by law the developer’s obligation, not yours, so the buyer-side bill is small relative to the purchase price.
Resale follows different mechanics — government fees are split by negotiation between buyer and seller, with no consumer protection cap. Buyer-side cost is typically modest after negotiation.
One thing every foreign buyer should keep regardless of structure: the FET (Foreign Exchange Transaction) certificate from the receiving Thai bank, issued for any inbound transfer above a certain threshold. This is the document that lets you repatriate the sale proceeds in foreign currency at exit. Treat it like a title deed.
For a full breakdown on your specific situation, we walk through the numbers in the first call.
For a foreign owner, the overall tax burden in Thailand is among the lowest in the region — significantly below most Western jurisdictions and lighter than comparable Southeast Asian markets.
The structure itself is straightforward: a small annual property tax, tax on rental income if you choose to rent the property out, and condominium common-area fees. There is no separate capital gains tax. Most of our clients find the annual cost of holding a property here to be a non-issue compared to where they are based.
Specific rates and thresholds are revised periodically by the Thai Revenue Department, so we do not publish numbers that go stale. We walk through your specific situation in the first call, and a Thai tax lawyer provides a written confirmation at the due-diligence stage. For more context, see our journal article on foreign ownership in Thailand.
Most foreign buyers in Thailand pay through international wire transfer. Thai banks do not offer mortgages to foreigners.
Funds for the purchase must originate from outside Thailand and be wired in foreign currency — this applies whether the property is freehold or leasehold. The funds arrive in foreign currency, get exchanged into baht by the receiving Thai bank, and the bank issues the FET (Foreign Exchange Transaction) certificate — the document that proves the money came from outside Thailand and lets you eventually repatriate the proceeds in foreign currency at exit. SWIFT wire is the standard mechanism.
The most common path among our clients: finance abroad through home equity lines, securities-backed loans, or private banking facilities — and wire the funds to Thailand. The cost of borrowing abroad is typically lower than what is available locally, and you keep the leverage in your home jurisdiction.
For off-plan, developers split the purchase price into a sequence of payments — reservation deposit, contract signing, then milestone payments tied to construction progress (piling, foundations, structural stages, finishing), and a final payment at handover. The exact breakdown varies by developer. This effectively spreads payment over the construction period interest-free, which functions as a kind of vendor financing.
Most premium developments in Phuket offer two rental management routes.
Branded rental pool programs: run by hotel operators like Marriott, IHG, Anantara, InterContinental. Your unit goes into a hotel-style pool, you receive a share of pooled revenue. Net yields typically run 6 to 8 percent for well-located condos. Hands-off, but you give up exclusive use of your unit beyond a contracted number of nights per year.
Independent property management: a third-party company handles bookings, cleaning, maintenance, guest communications. You retain full control of when to rent and when to use the property yourself. Yields vary more (4 to 9 percent) depending on management quality and occupancy.
For long-term rentals (9 to 12 month leases to expat residents), well-located villas in Layan, Bang Tao, Cherngtalay, or Rawai can be let on annual contracts at strong rates, often outperforming short-term rental on a net basis.
We introduce you to operators with proven track records on the specific property you're considering, and walk through pool program terms before you commit.
Yes. The Phuket secondary market is mature and active.
Foreign owners regularly resell condos to other foreigners (within the 49% quota of the building) or to Thai buyers. Transaction takes 4 to 8 weeks once a buyer is identified. Funds can be repatriated in foreign currency using your original FET documentation — this is the document you'll want to keep safely from the day of purchase.
For leasehold villas, the assignment of the lease is registered at the Land Office. Liquidity is moderate and depends on years remaining on the lease — a villa with 28 years remaining has different exit dynamics than one with 12 years.
Tax at sale: no separate capital gains tax. Sale proceeds are treated as ordinary income with substantial deductions based on holding period; for most foreign sellers, the effective rate stays in single digits.
Completed condominium purchase: 4 to 8 weeks from offer accepted to title transfer.
Week 1–2: Reservation deposit (~฿100,000), purchase contract drafted, lawyer review.
Week 2–4: Foreign currency wired with FET documentation, due diligence completed.
Week 4–8: Final balance paid, transfer at the Land Office, keys handed over.
Off-plan purchases: timeline is set by the developer’s payment schedule and construction progress. Typically 18 to 36 months from reservation to handover. Payments are split into a series of stages — reservation deposit, contract signing, then a sequence of milestone payments tied to construction progress (foundations, piling, structural completion, finishing), and a final payment at handover. The exact breakdown varies by developer — we walk through the specific schedule for any project we represent before you commit.
We map out the timeline clearly in the first call so you know exactly what's happening at each stage.
No. You pay the same price whether you buy through us or directly from the developer.
We do not charge buyers any fees on top of the property price. No "consulting fee," no "due diligence fee," no markup on third-party services we introduce you to (lawyer, currency exchange, property manager). What you see in the price list is what you pay.
For resale transactions we represent the buyer, and we are transparent about whose interests we are representing in any given negotiation. We do not represent both sides of the same transaction.
Six stages, roughly. Below is what actually happens.
1. First call (30–45 minutes). Usually on WhatsApp video or Zoom. We ask the questions a good wealth advisor would ask: budget, holding horizon, lifestyle vs investment weight, whether you have done cross-border real estate before, what is already in your portfolio, what is the trigger for looking at Thailand now. No projects pitched yet.
2. Shortlist (3–7 days). We send a curated set of properties matched to what you described, with honest notes on each: what works, what does not, how it compares to alternatives we considered and did not shortlist. If we do not see a strong match in our current inventory, we say so. We would rather refer you to a peer than place you in a deal we do not believe in.
3. Tour (in-person or virtual). If you are in Phuket: 2–3 days, we drive you to a curated set of properties, including a couple deliberately outside your stated criteria so you can calibrate. If remote: live video walkthroughs from the unit, plus drone footage and developer document packs. Most clients narrow to one or two finalists at this stage.
4. Due diligence. Before any deposit, we share the developer’s track record (delivered projects, delivery delays, financial position), title status, lease structure if applicable, common-area-fee history, planned developments around the site, and known issues. Independent Thai lawyer reviews the SPA. We do not recommend "skipping due diligence to secure the unit." If a developer pressures you to skip it, that is a signal in itself.
5. Transaction. We coordinate FET wire instructions with your bank, contract review, payment schedule tracking, and Land Office registration. You do not need to be in Thailand for any of this if powers of attorney are arranged in advance. Timing is described in section 03.
6. Handover and beyond. Snag list inspection (we typically find dozens of items on a brand-new unit, all documented and rectified before you accept handover). Utility connections, internet, building access cards, key handover. From there, warm introductions to whoever you need next: rental operator, property manager, interior designer, accountant.
The straightforward answer is honest comparison and independence.
Going direct to one developer means you see only what they are selling. Their salespeople will tell you their project is the best fit for you — that is their job. They cannot honestly compare their project to a competitor’s. We can. We work across all serious developers in Phuket and selected projects in Bangkok, so when we shortlist options for you, you are seeing genuine alternatives, not what one company wants you to see.
The deeper answer: we can say no to a project as readily as yes. We have walked clients away from projects we represent when the numbers did not work for them. We have told clients to wait when the cycle was wrong. We have referred buyers to a peer when they were the better fit. None of that happens when you buy direct from a developer, and it is not what you get from agents tied to one or two large developers.
The listings, the photos, the catalogue — that is the visible part. The real product is the conversation where we tell you what we would not buy ourselves, and why.
If your situation needs more than a generic answer — visa structure, tax residency, complex financing, family planning — we're better placed to walk through it on a call.