Foreigners can buy property in Phuket, but they cannot own land outright, and that shapes almost everything else. Phuket counts 40,600 units for sale across 343 developments, one of the most active markets in Southeast Asia, with its own rules and risks a generic Thailand guide won’t cover.
This guide covers where to buy, what you can own, what it costs, and the process itself.
Where to buy
| Area | Median condo price | Property profile | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bang Tao, Cherngtalay, Kamala, Surin and Layan | Around 156,000 baht per sqm in Bang Tao and Cherngtalay | Phuket’s main premium property corridor, offering everything from mainstream condos to branded residences and high-end hillside villas. | Luxury buyers, investors seeking strong demand and those wanting access to beaches, resorts and international amenities. |
| Kata and Karon | Around 144,000 baht per sqm in Karon | A condo-dominated coastal market offering more accessible prices than Phuket’s premium northern west-coast neighbourhoods. | Buyers seeking beach access, holiday homes and investment properties supported by strong short-term rental demand. |
| Rawai and Nai Harn | Around 130,000 baht per sqm | A well-established residential market with condos and villas serving Phuket’s largest year-round international community. | Owner-occupiers, retirees, families and long-term residents looking for a settled community and comparatively accessible prices. |
| Chalong and Phuket Town | Around 86,000 baht per sqm in the wider Phuket Town area | Phuket’s more affordable inland property market for buying, offering convenient access to marinas, schools, hospitals, shopping and everyday services. | Budget-conscious buyers, families and residents prioritising practical convenience over beachfront living. |
Demand is not spread evenly. A 2026 study of 54,628 enquiries across 1,258 Phuket projects found it clusters hard into a handful of corridors, each with its own price tier.
Bang Tao, Cherngtalay, Kamala, Surin and Layan
Bang Tao and the surrounding Cherngtalay area are the centre of gravity for property in Phuket. The district accounts for 54% of all active listings on the island, built around the Laguna Phuket resort ecosystem, and it offers the widest spread of stock anywhere in Phuket, from mainstream condos through to branded villas.
Pricing reflects that depth. One-bedroom sea-view condos list as high as US$538,000 (19.4 million baht), and villas run past US$3.8 million (138 million baht) at the top end. The median condo here sits around 156,000 baht per square metre, the highest of any area C9 tracks.
Kamala sits between Patong and Surin, quieter than both, and hemmed in by hills and national park boundaries that keep developable land scarce. That scarcity is the whole story: villas along its hillside, informally known as Millionaire’s Mile, hold their value because there is nowhere left to build more of them.
Surin and Layan are the quietest of the premium beaches, and villas here have actually outperformed condos on capital growth in recent years, a reversal of the usual pattern elsewhere on the island.
View condos for sale near Bang Tao Beach listed by FazWaz
Kata and Karon
Kata and Karon sit a step down in price from the west coast belt without sacrificing beach access, and the stock here is condo-dominant rather than villa-led. One-bedroom units in Karon list up to around 9.1 million baht, with villas reaching 40.4 million baht, against a median condo price of roughly 144,000 baht per square metre.
Short-term rental demand runs strong through this belt, which makes it a common entry point for expats weighing up buying property in Phuket purely as an income asset rather than a home.
View condos for sale in Karon listed by FazWaz
Rawai and Nai Harn
Rawai and neighbouring Nai Harn, at the island’s southern tip, hold the largest year-round expat community in Phuket. The profile here skews toward owner-occupiers rather than investors, and pricing reflects that: one-bedroom condos list up to around 15.4 million baht, villas up to 42.7 million baht, with a median condo price near 130,000 baht per square metre, noticeably below the west coast belt.
View condos for sale in Rawai listed by FazWaz
Chalong and Phuket Town
Chalong sits inland near the island’s marinas and international schools, close enough to the coast for convenience without paying beachfront prices.
Phuket Town, along with the neighbouring Wichit and Si Sunthon areas, holds the lowest median condo prices C9 tracks on the island, around 86,000 baht per square metre, and offers proximity to the parts of Phuket that actually run day to day.
Two areas are worth a one-line mention rather than a full section. Patong is condo-only and dominated by short-term-rental investors, which also makes it the area with the highest enforcement risk under Thailand’s Hotel Act.
Cape Yamu and Pa Klok, on the quieter east coast, hold a thin scatter of niche luxury villas that can sit on the market for 300 days or more, a fair trade-off if privacy matters more to you than liquidity.
View condos for sale in Chalong listed by FazWaz
What foreigners can and cannot own
Condos are the one property type foreigners can own outright, freehold, within a 49% quota per building. Once a project’s quota fills, common around Bang Tao before completion, later buyers get only a leasehold.
Villas can’t include the land, so buyers hold a 30-year leasehold plus a superficies right to own the building, occasionally a usufruct where a Thai spouse holds the land. Investing 40 million baht in approved assets allows direct ownership of up to one rai under Section 96 bis, though approvals are rare.
On a condo, funds must arrive from overseas in foreign currency, which is how the bank issues the FET form the Land Department requires to register the transfer.
The 2025 ruling that changed how leaseholds work
A March 2025 Supreme Court decision reshaped what a 30-year leasehold actually promises, and the case itself came out of a property dispute in Phuket.
In Decision No. 4655/2566, dated March 18, 2025, the Court ruled that pre-agreed automatic renewals, the so-called 30+30+30 model of a 30-year lease with two further extensions already written in, are unenforceable beyond the initial term. Existing leases remain valid, but the promise of renewal does not.
The practical takeaway for anyone buying a Phuket villa on leasehold: price and plan around 30 years of secure tenure, not 60 or 90. Reforms that would extend leases to 99 years, or lift the condo quota to 75%, have been publicly discussed, but as of this writing neither has been enacted. Buy for the law as it stands, not the law as it might become.
Condo, villa or branded residence
Condos are 83% of Phuket’s inventory at a median 144,000 baht per sqm, the cleanest ownership route. Villas are the remaining 17%, cheaper per sqm but the fastest-growing segment. Branded residences run roughly 28% higher than condos, and closer to double on villas.
| Property type | Typical ownership structure | Share of Phuket inventory | Median price per sqm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Condominium | Freehold, within 49% foreign quota | ~83% | 144,000 baht |
| Villa or landed house | 30-year leasehold plus superficies | ~17% | 70,000 baht |
| Branded residence (condo) | Freehold, within quota | ~20% of total supply | 181,000 baht |
| Branded residence (villa) | Leasehold plus superficies | included above | ~162,000 baht |
What things cost, and what you can expect to earn
New-build condos carry a meaningful premium over resale stock; primary market units average 139,000 baht per square metre against 100,000 baht for secondary sales, a 39% gap that makes resale the better entry point if the finish and age suit you.
| Area | Median condo price per sqm |
|---|---|
| Cherngtalay / Bang Tao | ~156,000 baht |
| Karon | ~144,000 baht |
| Rawai | ~130,000 baht |
| Wichit / Si Sunthon (Phuket Town area) | ~86,000 baht |
Phuket averaged a 5.8% gross rental yield in 2025 (Colliers Thailand), ranging from 3.2% in oversupplied pockets to 9.1% in well-chosen spots. West coast short-term rentals can post 6.5 to 8.5% gross, narrowing to 3.8 to 5.2% net after fees and tax, though stays under 30 days legally require a hotel licence most owners currently operate without.
The market underneath the numbers
Mass-market condo supply is building toward oversupply through 2026 and 2027, with 10,159 unsold units worth 77.078 billion baht reported by REIC in May 2025, concentrated in the projects launched over the past two years.
Demand, meanwhile, has been shifting nationality rather than shrinking: Russian buyers now drive 44% of Phuket’s foreign condo transfer value, while Chinese demand has cooled as China’s own property market struggles.
Put those two trends together, and the window sits in an unusual place. Land-scarce pockets like Kamala and Surin haven’t caught up to that supply pressure yet, in either direction, and analysts at KKP Bank are still forecasting 8 to 10% annual price growth for Phuket through 2026, the strongest of any Thai market. That gap won’t stay open indefinitely as the current wave of construction completes.
How to actually be buying property in Phuket
Step 1: Reserve the property. A reservation deposit takes the unit off the market while contracts are drawn up. It is usually non-refundable, so push for a contingency clause tied to clear title before handing money over. This is also the point to line up representation, and a good starting reference is FazWaz’s own list of the best real estate agencies and platforms in Phuket.
Step 2: Instruct a lawyer and complete due diligence. Verify the Chanote title directly, and for a condo, confirm the foreign-quota certificate showing space remains within the 49% limit. On a resale unit, get a debt-free certificate from the juristic office as well.
Step 3: Sign the sale and purchase agreement. Have your lawyer review the price, payment schedule, fee allocation and the completion date before you sign anything. This document, not the reservation form, is what actually protects you.
Step 4: Transfer funds from overseas. For a freehold condo, funds must arrive from an overseas account in foreign currency, so the receiving bank can issue the FET form covered above.
Step 5: Register the transfer at the Land Department. Fees and taxes are settled on the day. Foreign buyers pay the standard 2% transfer fee; note that a reduced 0.01% rate introduced in 2025 applies only to Thai nationals buying property under 7 million baht.
Total transaction costs on a condo purchase typically run 2.5 to 6.3% of the price, split by negotiation between buyer and seller. Leasehold registration on a villa is calculated differently, at 1.1% of the total rent payable across the lease term, so budget for it as a separate line rather than folding it into condo-style fee expectations.
What to check before buying a villa or property in Phuket
Altitude matters more than most buyers expect. Land above 80 metres falls under Zone 6 planning restrictions, and since a December 2024 revision, limited construction is allowed up to 140 metres, capped at six metres in height with most of the plot left open.
Above that, or on any slope steeper than 35%, building is generally off the table, and hillside plots in Kamala, Surin and Nai Harn commonly straddle these zones.
Larger coastal developments also trigger environmental impact assessment requirements, so confirm that status before putting down a deposit on anything of scale. The most serious risk is what locals call “dirty land,” plots illegally sold off from protected park or public land, which carries no statute of limitations in Thailand.
Make sure any access track to the property is a registered right of way on the Chanote itself, since a missing one can hold up a building permit for good
Buying property in Phuket comes down to three decisions that compound on each other: the district, whether that gets you freehold or leasehold, and the due diligence a hillside or coastal plot specifically demands. Get those three right, and the legal process itself is genuinely straightforward.
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