If you're a foreigner, you can only purchase three types of real estate or property under certain conditions: Condominiums, Villas & Houses, and Undeveloped Land. In our all-in-one Thailand property purchase guide, you'll know that a growing number of expats are choosing Thailand for longer stays, whether for business, as a retirement home, or for different purposes.
So today, we’ll discuss the main points for condos and villas, the two most popular types of real estate in Thailand, their Property Prices and Rental Yield.
Let’s look at the range of prices for different types of property in Thailand.
It’s possible to find a condominium in Bangkok with a 1-million-baht budget. However, you would only find a studio room that’s 30 sqm or smaller, located on the outskirts of Bangkok without any nearby BTS or MRT at all. The condominiums at this price point also look like an apartment rather than a condominium and may lack basic facilities such as a swimming pool and gym.
2-3 million baht should be the minimum budget for those who want to buy a condo in Bangkok. With this amount of money, you can buy a studio unit or a one-bedroom condo that’s close to a BTS or MRT station. For example, you can buy a fully furnished 36-sqm one-bedroom unit at UNIO Sukhumvit 72, a beach-style condominium with a big swimming pool, close to BTS Bearing. UNIO comes with a beach-style swimming pool.
With this budget, you can get a much larger room. You can buy a 50-sqm two-bedroom unit at a condominium like Aspire Sukhumvit Onnut. If you love river views, you can choose from many riverside condominiums such as Chapter Charoen Nakhon Riverside with this budget.
You can buy a high-end unit with this budget in a CBD area and within the central Sukhumvit zone.
These condos are more luxurious, have better facilities, and are within spitting distance of department stores and busy BTS/MRT stations such as Asok and Thong Lor. Hyde Sukhumvit 11, located near BTS Nana station, is a good example of a condominium that sells units in this price range. Aside from being centrally located, the condo has tons of facilities such as an indoor and outdoor swimming pool with a saltwater system, sauna, game room, garden, theatre, library, golf simulation room, and CCTV cameras throughout the condo.
With this amount of money, you can get a mega luxurious condo unit in Bangkok. These are condos located within the CBD area, have excellent quality building materials, and are fully equipped with safe and modern facilities. With 12.9 million baht, you can buy a 70.29-sqm two-bedroom unit at Siamese Exclusive Sukhumvit 31.
In addition to a good location, this condominium has unique features including a 4.2-meter-high ceiling, which is 30% higher than most condominiums, and a big glass wall that lets you see spectacular city views of Bangkok at night right from your room.
Villa prices are relatively higher compared to a condo, be it in Bangkok or any other important city of Thailand. But it depends on the amenities, areas and number of floors or rooms. Generally, a villa can be purchased from THB 2,00,000 to THB 2 Billion subjects to its location and amenities.
Struggling to choose between a Thailand Villa or a Condo? Maybe looking at the pros and cons list might help you.
Modern eco-style villas in Koh Samui with a sea view.
Source: Juwai.asia
Gross rental yield is the annual rental income from the property value, which does not include the charges you pay towards the maintenance of this property or the amount that you pay in taxes. It simply is the money you earn as rent yearly.
On the other hand, you can arrive at the net rental yield after deducting the annual expenses from the annual rental income. Thailand might not have the highest yields in Asia, but you can find some great deals if you work with the right agent and target the right area.
While condominium units along Sukhumvit Road can fetch up to THB 300,000 – 500,000 per square meter, it’s highly sought after among foreigners who invest in Bangkok. Areas like Silom-Sathorn have also become increasingly popular, even if it’s located primarily catering to business professionals and not to tourists and travellers.
freshbangkok has done an analysis of various condominium projects located along with the prime areas in Sukhumvit and Silom-Sathorn.
The website collected estimated rental yields for 15 projects on the three biggest real estate websites in Thailand: Hipflat, DD Property, and Dot Property. The analysis and research showed the following average yields for the 15 projects on the websites:
It's worth mentioning is that Nana scored higher yields due to the lower property prices in the areas. By comparison, the prices in Asoke and Phrom Phong are around 30% higher compared to Nana, which leads to lower yields. The estimated rental yields in Sathorn-Silom were calculated in the same way and where we see the following results:
Considering the popularity and comparably high real estate prices in these prime areas, it is quite surprising that yields average between 4.43% to 5.24%.
Worth mentioning is also that the average rental yields on Dot Property are significantly lower than Hipflat and DD Property, which affect the results. Bear in mind that these are average yields. If you work with the right partners and put some effort into your research, you can find units that generate yields well above these numbers.
Phuket relies heavily on tourism and has, like Bangkok, been affected badly during the COVID-19 pandemic. But statistics have shown that Bangkok is more stable and with more reliable numbers than Phuket. This mainly boils down to the fact that:
Foreigners predominantly buy condominiums in Bangkok while there are various investment options in Phuket such as bungalows, villas, condotels, and more.
Calculating the average rental yields results in a number that is hard to grasp. Besides, small geographical differences can have a large impact on the rental yields and the opportunities to rent out units.
Phuket relies heavily on tourists from places like Russia and China. These might start to move elsewhere, such as to Vietnam, when the tourism industry continue to develop there. As mentioned, Phuket relies heavily on tourism and you won’t find any universities, multinational HQs, and banks that bring demand for real estate in places like Bangkok.
Projects are often promoted as to providing guaranteed rental incomes that range up to 15%.
It’s hard to know whether developers can fulfill these obligations, especially in economic downturns as we have witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic. So, back to the question at hand: What kind of rental yield can you expect in Phuket?
There are limited data and information related to rental yields in Phuket. While there are projects that offer 6%, 7%, or even up to 15% in guaranteed yields for a few years, it’s quite important to understand what the unit can yield after this period has ended. Some claim that yields can fetch from 5% up to 10%, but this will highly rely on where you buy and at what price level.
The same as it goes with Phuket, there are significantly fewer data available from firms that have analyzed rental yields in Pattaya. Agents and advocates tend to “shot from the hip” and tell you that yields range from “5% to 10%”. With that said, we prefer working with data that can back up such statements, making real estate buyers more confident in their choices.
Due to the limited data available, we could only retrieve data from Numbeo, claiming that investors can enjoy the following yields on average:
Property buyers or agents might have added guaranteed rental yields into the calculation, which would unquestionably drive up the numbers. Again, it’s important that you work with a partner that has in-depth knowledge about the best areas and projects to buy real estate, no matter where you buy in Thailand.
Read more: Your All-In-One Guide to Buying Property in Thailand as a Foreigner [2021]
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