To effectively analyse the property markets within Thailand’s resort destinations, it’s crucial to acknowledge their unique characteristics compared to the broader Thai real estate market. The market dynamics in resort areas like Phuket, Koh Samui, and Pattaya are primarily driven by international demand, which closely correlates with the tourism sector. Factors such as the domestic economy, mortgage rates, and the overall Thai real estate market have a minimal influence on these areas.
In contrast, Bangkok operates as a city destination with a real estate market primarily fuelled by domestic demand. However, in the luxury condominium sector, international demand still plays a pivotal role. At Charlesdel, we specialise in marketing properties from Thailand’s resort destinations to international buyers, and we also cover properties in Bangkok. This analysis will therefore primarily focus on the property market trends within these resort areas, with a special emphasis on Bangkok as an exception.
A very significant proportion of Thailand’s GDP is accounted for by tourism (12% pre-pandemic) which is also a key driver of the country’s property market in its resort destinations. On the back of the reopening of Chinese borders in March this 2023, following the pandemic lockdown, tourist numbers for 2023 reached 28M, (source The Ministry of Tourism and Sports) approximately 70% of pre-pandemic numbers. According to forecasts by the Finance Ministry, source Reuters, tourist numbers for 2024 are expected to reach well over 30M. The principal factor being foreign investors enabled by tourism, the Thai property markets’ recovery since COVID, for both property sales and rental, has been very strong in resort destinations such as Phuket and Koh Samui.
According to CBRE Thailand, the residential property market in Phuket is projected to remain robust throughout 2024, source Bangkok Post, with an expected price increase of 10-15%. This surge is mainly driven by demand from Russian buyers followed by Chinese. Meanwhile, global search volume on Google for “Koh Samui property for sale” increased by 23% in March 2024 compared to the same month in 2023, according to data from the Google Ads API as of April 2024. Additionally, Real Samui Properties, a local real estate agency, reported that many mid-range to luxury holiday villas in Koh Samui experienced continuous bookings throughout the last high season from December 2023 to January 2024.
Along with Russian demand, notably an increase in Russian investors looking to move their money into safe havens due to the nervousness about their economy fuelled by war anxiety, another key influence assisting the continued recovery of the real estate sector, particularly in resort destinations, is the Thai governments’ luring of foreign investors via new longer-term visa programmes (see https://ltr.boi.go.th/) for high net worth visitors and professionals deemed to be able add value to Thailand.
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