What is a view worth? What is a floor worth?

1 of 10 · Two windows

To price a view, you have to stay inside the same building

Above Sukhumvit, hundreds of towers face one another. Behind every window, a listing declares a view: the skyline, the river, the pool, sometimes the sea. Of the 88,133 units for sale in our survey, 65,985 declare one. And in 2,936 developments, next-door neighbours look out on different horizons. That is where the true value of a view can be read: between two flats in the same building, with the same number of bedrooms, at the same level. One address, two windows, two prices. This guide climbs Bangkok's towers, follows the Chao Phraya, then heads for the sea.

• Sea view
• River view
• Skyline view
• City, open view
• Mountain, lake or golf
• Garden or pool
• Blocked view

2 of 10 · Going up

In Thonglor, every landing you climb shows in the price

The camera rises along Park Origin Thonglor, a 59-storey tower completed in 2022 above Sukhumvit. Between the tenth and nineteenth floors, its 5 flats for sale ask a median THB 269,017/m² (€7,010). From the fortieth floor up, its 11 units reach THB 348,794/m² (€9,089): 29.7% more for the same building, the same address, the same pool. Only the height changes, and with it the light, the quiet and a horizon that opens onto the whole city.

3 of 10 · Height

In Bangkok's towers, the thirtieth floor costs about a tenth more

Across all towers, the pattern is clear. Within the same development and with the same number of bedrooms, a flat between the tenth and nineteenth floors asks 3.2% more than at the foot of the tower, floors one to nine. Between the twentieth and twenty-ninth, 6.1%. From the thirtieth to the thirty-ninth, 10.7%, and from the fortieth up, 16.3%. In Pattaya the slope is steeper: 7.2%, 12.7%, then 19.6% between the thirtieth and thirty-ninth floors. The reason can be seen from the balconies; we will come back to it.

4 of 10 · The skyline

Within the same building, a skyline view costs no more

Here is the survey's revelation. In Bangkok listings, units facing the skyline ask a median THB 116,853/m² (€3,045), against THB 85,014/m² (€2,215) for a city view: a 37.5% gap. Now compare two flats in the same building, with the same number of bedrooms, on the same ten-floor band. Across 834 developments, the median gap falls to -0.2%. The skyline is paid for in the address, in the heart of Sathorn or Sukhumvit, not in the window. Once you are in the right tower, the skyline side often costs the same as the other.

• Sea view
• River view
• Skyline view
• City, open view
• Mountain, lake or golf
• Garden or pool
• Blocked view

5 of 10 · The Chao Phraya

By the river, you pay for the bank more than for the window

Heading west, along the Chao Phraya between Bang Rak and Charoen Nakhon. Within a kilometre of its course, we track 160 developments: their median price per m² reaches THB 106,002 (€2,762), 43.9% above Bangkok's median of THB 73,650 (€1,919). Inside these riverside buildings, a window on the river adds little: with the same layout and floor band, a median 1.8%, across 65 developments. Barges drifting downstream at sunset, shuttle boats, the lights of the far bank: it is the riverbank you buy first, and in the right tower the river comes almost as a bonus.

• Sea view
• River view
• Skyline view
• City, open view
• Mountain, lake or golf
• Garden or pool
• Blocked view

6 of 10 · Hua Hin

From garden to sea, the same building asks only a few per cent more

In Hua Hin, the camera leaves the inland gardens and pools and glides towards the Gulf of Thailand, as far as Nong Kae and the headland of Khao Takiab. In listings the gap looks huge: sea-view units ask a median THB 100,603/m² (€2,622), more than double the others at THB 46,956/m² (€1,224). Within the same building, with the same layout and floor band, a sea view adds 8%. In Pattaya, 7.5%. In Phuket, 4.9%. The sea does carry a price, above all because the buildings that face it stand by the water.

• Sea view
• River view
• Skyline view
• City, open view
• Mountain, lake or golf
• Garden or pool
• Blocked view

7 of 10 · Pattaya

In Pattaya, the sea is won floor by floor

Facing the bay, from Wong Amat beach to Jomtien, 64 developments rise to thirty floors or more. At the foot of the towers, below the tenth floor, 14.8% of units declare a sea view. Between the tenth and nineteenth, 75.5%. From the fortieth up, 95.5%. That is why height costs more here than in Bangkok: in Pattaya, going up means buying the horizon, the island of Koh Larn offshore and the sun setting over the gulf.

• Sea view
• River view
• Skyline view
• City, open view
• Mountain, lake or golf
• Garden or pool
• Blocked view

8 of 10 · Phuket

In Phuket, you see the sea without taking the lift

A change of scene on Phuket's west coast, above Karon and Kata beaches. Here buildings stay low: a median 7 floors for apartment developments. The sea is won on the hillsides, not in height: 99.2% of the island's sea-view units sit below the tenth floor, and the Karon sub-district alone counts 626. As a result, Phuket is where a sea view adds least within a development: 4.9%, with the same layout and floor band. A terrace over the Andaman, two or three levels above the garden.

• Sea view
• River view
• Skyline view
• City, open view
• Mountain, lake or golf
• Garden or pool
• Blocked view

9 of 10 · Two measures

The map magnifies the view; the building puts it back in proportion

Put the two measures side by side. On the map, from one development to another, a sea view seems worth 66.7% in Pattaya, 114.2% in Hua Hin and 47.1% in Phuket, the skyline 37.5% in Bangkok. Within the same building, these gaps shrink to 7.5%, 8%, 4.9% and -0.2%. What makes the difference is location: the beach, the centre, the riverbank. Once the address is chosen, the view costs far less than you might think.

• Sea view
• River view
• Skyline view
• City, open view
• Mountain, lake or golf
• Garden or pool
• Blocked view

10 of 10 · Choosing

Choose the address first, then go up

The survey sketches a simple method. First the address: it carries most of the price, by the sea as in the heart of Bangkok. Then the floor: between the thirtieth and thirty-ninth, expect 10.7% more in Bangkok and 19.6% in Pattaya, within the same development and layout. Finally the window: the sea adds 7.5% in Pattaya and 8% in Hua Hin; the skyline and the river, next to nothing within the same building. On the map, each development now shows the view declared by most of its units.

• Sea view
• River view
• Skyline view
• City, open view
• Mountain, lake or golf
• Garden or pool
• Blocked view