Uncertainty set to sustain foreign interest

Following the withdrawal of the foreign land ownership proposal, global uncertainty is expected to continue to encourage wealthy foreigners, particularly from the US, Myanmar, Canada and Saudi Arabia, to purchase properties in Thailand.

Artitaya Kasemlawan, head of residential sales for project, advisory and transaction services at property consultant CBRE Thailand, said citizens of the US, Myanmar and Canada were active buyers in the luxury and superluxury condo segment this year.

“Americans remained a major buyer of Thai property,” she said. “But after the pandemic, active American buyers shifted from those doing business outside the US to those doing business in the US.”

She said these buyers were familiar with Thailand in terms of its location and its condos. They had visited the country several times as a tourist before deciding to buy a unit. The average price they paid for a property was 100 million baht per unit.

Due to the political crisis in Myanmar, buyers from that country were also high potential buyers.

In this year’s third quarter, CBRE saw a rising demand for condo units priced at 50 million baht or above.

She said Canadians were also active buyers this year. Indeed, they represented the largest group of foreign buyers in Phuket via CBRE, buying both condos and villas.

“Though Saudi Arabians are not among the leading buyers at present, their potential is very high after Thailand and Saudi Arabia resumed their relationship,” she said.

CBRE saw an increasing number of tourists from Saudi Arabia this year, which was expected to build momentum in the same way as the Chinese who became condo buyers after first visiting the country as a tourist.

Ms Artitaya said Russians had now returned as property buyers, mainly in Phuket.

Most of the properties they were interested in were pool villas as they wanted to stay as a family.

“Buyers from European countries such as the UK and Russia as well as Scandinavia have come back as

Thailand remains attractive for foreigners around the world as a place to have a second home,” she said. “Chinese remain the no.1 buyers now, as well as in the future.”

According to CBRE’s research on condo buyer markets during 2005-2022, buyers from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and the UK, respectively, represented the top five in terms of foreign purchases of Bangkok condos.

In Pattaya, Germans, Russians, Chinese, British and Singaporeans accounted for the top five, while the top five in Hua Hin was made up of British, Russians, Dutch, French and Swedish buyers.

This year, there are also more Russians purchasing units in Hua Hin priced at 10 million baht.