Foreigners Buy 24% More Condominiums; Chonburi Ranks First

An aerial photo shows the main beach in Pattaya on June 1, 2020. (Photo by Mladen ANTONOV / AFP)

According to statistics from the Real Estate Information Center (REIC), Government Housing Bank (GH Bank), in the first six months of 2023, transfers of condominiums in Thailand by foreign clients increased by 14.7 percent compared to 2022, reaching 10.8 percent of the total.

The value of these transfers also increased by 24.5 percent compared to 2022, reaching 20.5 percent of the total. This indicates a resurgence of interest from foreign investors in the Thai real estate market.

On September 18, 2023, Vichai Viratkapan, Inspector General of the Government Housing Bank and Acting Director of the Real Estate Information Center (REIC), announced that in terms of condominium transfers to foreign clients across the country in the first six months of 2023 (January-June), Chonburi ranked first with a 43.4 percent share, followed by Bangkok with 37.7 percent. The combined share of these two provinces reached 81.1 percent.

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This is a change from the 2018-2022 period, when Bangkok was the leading destination for foreign property transfers with an average share of 48.8 percent, and Chonburi was second with an average share of 30.8 percent.

In the first six months of 2023, the two provinces together accounted for 81.1 percent and 85.4 percent of the national total, respectively. Phuket ranked third with a share of 6.3 percent.

Chinese nationals remain the top foreign buyers, accounting for 47.0 percent of units transferred and 48.3 percent of total value. Russians are second, with shares of 9.6 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively.

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Notably, in the second quarter of 2023, Myanmar nationals achieved the highest average price in condominium transfers at 7.0 million baht per unit, while Indians transferred the largest condominiums at 89.8 square meters.

A total of 3,563 condominiums were transferred from abroad in Thailand in the second quarter of 2023, an increase of 53.4 percent, with a total value of 18.083 billion baht, an increase of 49.4 percent from the same period last year.

Vichai noted that “the statistics for the first half of the year reflect a recovery in foreign investment interest, indicating that the numbers are a strong indicator of the overall real estate market’s stability and continued growth.”