Freehold, leasehold, foreign quota: what the law does to price

1 of 10 · The rule

An apartment in your own name, within each building's limit

From the air, Bangkok lines up its towers from Sukhumvit to the river. In each of them, Thailand's condominium law opens a door to foreign buyers: you could hold an apartment there freehold, in your own name, as long as the floor area owned by foreigners does not exceed 49% of all the units in the building. Of the 34,891 condominium units for sale in Bangkok, 43.8% are offered under foreign quota, and 31.7% under Thai quota only. Foreign quota is offered in 1,289 buildings, 67.8% of those whose tenure is known.

• Foreign quota offered
• Thai quota only
• Leasehold

2 of 10 · Two families of buildings

Foreign-quota towers, Thai-quota residences

Watch the colours spread out. Buildings that offer foreign quota are towers: 22 floors at the median. Those whose units for sale are all under Thai quota are lower, 8 floors at the median, and scatter further towards the outskirts. The square metre follows the same slope: THB 111,589/m² (€2,908) at the median in the former, THB 77,094/m² (€2,009) in the latter, a 45% gap.

• Foreign quota offered
• Thai quota only
• Leasehold

3 of 10 · Same building

In the same building, foreign quota costs almost nothing extra

Is that gap down to the law? To find out, compare two units in the same building, one under foreign quota, the other under Thai quota. Bangkok has 1,089 buildings where both are on sale at once. Within each, the foreign-quota unit asks a median 1.6% more per square metre, and it is dearer in only 55% of cases. The law puts almost nothing on the price of an apartment: what it draws is the map of buildings where a foreigner can buy.

• Foreign quota offered
• Thai quota only
• Leasehold

4 of 10 · Sukhumvit

Foreign quota has its neighbourhoods

Drop down towards Thong Lo and Phrom Phong, with their streets of restaurants and residential towers. In Watthana, foreign quota is offered in 90% of the 249 buildings whose tenure is known; in neighbouring Khlong Toei, in 88%; in Ratchathewi, in 93%. To the east, Prawet falls to 39%; across the river, Bangkok Noi to 43% and Bang Phlat to 44%. The further from the centre, the more room the Thai-quota supply takes.

• Foreign quota offered
• Thai quota only
• Leasehold

5 of 10 · Langsuan

By Lumphini, luxury also sells on leasehold

Leasehold remains rare in Bangkok: 0.7% of condominium units for sale. Yet 44% of them are here, between Langsuan and Ratchadamri, north of Lumphini Park, in 14 buildings. These are among the city's most expensive addresses. Magnolias Ratchadamri Boulevard and its 60 floors: THB 257,944/m² (€6,722) for its leasehold units. The Residences at Sindhorn Kempinski: THB 258,812/m² (€6,744). Sindhorn Residence: THB 261,596/m² (€6,817). Sindhorn Tonson: THB 301,618/m² (€7,860). The least expensive of the four is still worth 2.6 times Bangkok's condominium median of THB 98,709/m² (€2,572).

6 of 10 · Pattaya

In Pattaya, foreign quota really carries a price

From Wongamat to Jomtien, Pattaya bay lines up its towers facing the gulf. 56.5% of condominium units here are offered under foreign quota. And of the five cities measured, this is where the gap is sharpest: in the 141 buildings selling both tenures, the foreign-quota unit asks a median 11.8% more than its Thai-quota neighbour, and it does so in 72% of cases. In Phuket, the gap is 5.7%; in Chiang Mai, 1.9%; in Bangkok, 1.6%; in Hua Hin, it fades away (-0.4%).

• Foreign quota offered
• Thai quota only
• Leasehold

7 of 10 · Bang Tao

In Phuket, leasehold has settled around the lagoons

Behind Bang Tao beach, between the Laguna lagoons and the Layan hills, stand residences bearing hotel names, from Banyan Tree to Angsana. In Phuket, 63% of condominium units are offered under foreign quota, but 12.9% are offered on leasehold, against 0.7% in Bangkok. And 50% of those leasehold units are here, in Choeng Thale, across 76 buildings. This time, leasehold shows in the price: in the 141 buildings on the island that sell both, the leasehold unit asks a median 7.3% less than the foreign-quota unit, and does so in 65% of cases.

8 of 10 · Villas

Villas sell first and foremost on leasehold

Leave the towers for pool villas: here, the listing most often offers a lease. The Civil and Commercial Code caps the term of a lease on immovable property at 30 years; when it ends, it could be renewed, for no more than 30 years. Beyond 3 years, a lease not registered at the land office would only hold for 3 years, the Department of Lands points out. Across the six destinations, 80% of the 14,467 villa units for sale are offered on leasehold. Pattaya rises to 84.9%, Hua Hin and Chiang Mai to 84.3%. Koh Samui is the exception: 27.4% of its villas are listed as freehold.

• Leasehold
• Freehold
• Both

9 of 10 · Same estate

Within the same estate, a leasehold villa asks no less

In the hills of Choeng Thale, Si Sunthon and Thep Krasattri, villa estates rise in tiers above the west coast. Island-wide, a leasehold villa asks THB 73,358/m² (€1,912) at the median, against THB 80,961/m² (€2,110) freehold, 9% less. But in the 75 estates that sell both, the gap disappears: there, the leasehold villa asks a median 0.6% more. As with Bangkok's condominiums, what makes the price is the address more than the tenure.

• Leasehold
• Freehold
• Both

10 of 10 · What the law draws

The law draws the map more than it sets the price

Pull back to the whole country. In Bangkok, 43.8% of condominium units for sale are offered under foreign quota; in Phuket, 63%; in Pattaya, 56.5%. Villas, meanwhile, sell 80% on leasehold. Within the same building or estate, tenure moves the price by only a few points, except in Pattaya, where foreign quota asks 11.8% more, and for Phuket's leasehold condominiums, 7.3% less. The real difference lies elsewhere: in the addresses the law opens to you.

• Foreign quota offered
• Thai quota only
• Leasehold