Phuket property for foreign buyers

The Interior Ministry announcements were published in the Royal Gazette on 31 August. From 15 September, passport holders from 60 countries and territories — including India, the United Kingdom and the United States — receive 30 days visa-free instead of 60; three get 15 days and four move to visa on arrival. The cabinet approved the tiers on 19 May.

REIC's Q1/2569 foreign condominium transfer report: 3,241 units (−17.3%) worth ฿13,464m (−17.9%), 141,644 sq m (−13.8%); foreigners took 13.6% of condo units transferred and 23.9% of value. China first with 906 units (−38.8%) and ฿3,493m (−42.9%); Russia second, 383 units (+33.0%), ฿1,665m (+68.7%); Myanmar third, 279 units (−36.4%), ฿968m (−39.0%). Bangkok led value at ฿6,138m (45.6%), Chonburi led units at 1,167 (36.0%), Phuket's value grew fastest at +34.9%.

REIC's first-half 2026 figures, as reported by The Nation: 6,533 units transferred to foreigners (−8.8%) worth ฿28,267m (−1.5%). China remained the largest group at ฿6,874m (−27.7%), buying mainly in Bangkok and Chonburi; Russia rose to ฿3,603m (+75.9%), concentrated in Phuket and Chonburi; Myanmar fell to ฿2,457m (−16.2%), focused on Bangkok.

Kasikorn Research Center forecasts a 20% fall in foreign condominium transfers in 2026, the first decline in five years, and reads the contraction as a Bangkok story: Bangkok-area foreign transfers fell 35% in Q1 2026 while provincial transfers were nearly flat and provincial average prices rose 10.5%.

The Agency for Real Estate Affairs' year-end 2025 survey, reported 3 May 2026, counted 777 projects on the island with 88,997 units, 62,132 sold and 9,463 unsold, spread across Thalang (47%), Mueang Phuket (38%) and Kathu (15%). Sales ran at 4.4% a month, about 22.8 months to clear the stock, against roughly four years in Bangkok. Holiday condominiums are 38,613 units and ฿321.0bn, 48% of total value; villas are 7% of units but 31% of value; units priced at ฿20m and above are ฿241.6bn, 36% of the whole. AREA ranks Phuket the second-largest market after Greater Bangkok.

Airports of Thailand's expansion plan, reported 16 May 2026, puts Phuket airport's Phase 2 at around ฿10bn to add 5.5 million passengers a year and reach at least 18 million. The project is still in design, expected to complete in 2026, with approval sought by 2027. The Andaman airport in Phang Nga remains a feasibility study to be prepared for cabinet, with no timeline or budget set.

The Prime Minister, as Interior Minister, directed the Department of Lands to enforce strict procedures on land transactions involving foreign nationals. Officials must examine source of funds on transactions above ฿2m in cash or ฿5m in assessed value, inspect juristic persons with foreign shareholders monthly, report suspicious activity quarterly, investigate shareholder changes and capital increases, and prosecute nominee arrangements, with authority to force the sale of illegally held land.

On 20 June 2026 more than 500 officers under the deputy national police chief searched 76 target companies in the three Andaman provinces. Investigators found 29 companies suspected of nominee activity and 48 holding land with more foreign than Thai shareholders, seized or inspected 89 plots worth ฿1,053,518,872 — ฿231m of it in Phuket, about ฿499m in Phang Nga and Krabi combined — covering hotels, resorts, condominiums, retail businesses and villas, and issued 59 arrest warrants (28 Thai, 31 foreign) and 60 search warrants, tracing the lawyers and auditors who built the structures.

The Department of Lands' press release sets the screening rule for land offices: individual purchases of land valued at ฿5m or more, or paid with ฿2m or more in cash, require a detailed examination of the buyer's source of money, income, occupation and financial standing. A Thai national with a foreign spouse must state that the purchase money is separate property, not marital property. Each province forms a committee with local officials to monitor suspicious patterns; suspicious cases are referred to the Minister.

On 30 June the cabinet approved cutting the property transfer registration fee from 2% to 0.01% and the mortgage registration fee from 1% to 0.01% for houses, townhouses and condominiums priced and appraised at no more than ฿7m, from Royal Gazette publication until 30 June 2027. Eligibility is Thai-national individuals buying a home of their own; foreign buyers are outside the measure and keep paying the 2% transfer fee.

On or about 11 June 2026 the Department of Provincial Administration's central special-operations unit, under its director-general, raided three establishments in Karon and Rawai operating as hotels without a hotel licence, in breach of the Hotel Act B.E. 2547. The department called the operation part of a broader campaign against unlicensed accommodation across Phuket and other major tourist destinations.

On 30 July 2026 Phuket officials inspected a condominium in Wichit after residents complained of rooms let by the day. Staff were present but neither the owner nor the manager; the operator faces proceedings under Section 15 of the Hotel Act B.E. 2547, which carries fines and imprisonment.

The Ministerial Regulation on hotel types and criteria (No. 2) B.E. 2566, gazetted 30 August 2023 and in force 60 days later, raised the non-hotel threshold from 4 rooms and 20 guests to 8 rooms and 30 guests: an accommodation within it notifies the district office as a non-hotel place of lodging instead of applying for a hotel licence. Everything above the threshold, and every stay under 30 days outside it, is hotel business under the Hotel Act B.E. 2547.

A draft amendment to the Hotel Act B.E. 2547, proposed by MP Naknanang Kulnathasiri and colleagues, was opened for public comment on parliament's Section 77 portal on 1 May 2026 with a deadline of 30 May. It would bring accommodation businesses that are not hotels under the Act through registration with a designated manager, apply hotel-management rules and penalties to them, restructure the oversight committee under the deputy interior minister with five private-sector members, and let the minister set registration fees.

A 10 April 2026 note by Formichella & Sritawat reports a Thai court judgment in early 2026 that only monthly rentals are exempt from the Hotel Act, a room rented by the month not being a hotel room, and says a proposed Accommodation Act in draft at the Council of State could allow registration of short-term lets without a full hotel licence. Penalties under the Act are up to one year's imprisonment, a fine up to ฿20,000, or both, plus up to ฿10,000 a day while the offence continues.

C9 Hotelworks' Asia Branded Residences Market Review 2026, reported 30 June 2026, values Thailand's branded-residence market at ฿205.3bn (US$6.4bn) across 13,124 launched units, up 13.3% year on year, with Phuket's 3,465 units leading Asia's resort segment by count. Buyers are affluent Thais, expatriates and international investors; developers now compete on rental programmes and management services as part of the ownership offer.

The Provincial Waterworks Authority's Phuket branch announced scheduled pressure reductions from 10pm to 5am on 11–15 May 2026 because raw-water reserves at Bang Wad had fallen to 27% of capacity, with Bang Neow Dum at 41% and Klong Kata at 42%; some areas were warned to expect very low pressure or no running water in those hours. At the same meeting the deputy governor ordered every agency to prepare for floods and landslides forecast for 15–20 May — drainage, storage and emergency equipment.

After a disaster-preparedness meeting on 11 April 2026 Phuket ordered full-scale evacuation drills in Karon the following month. Officials said LiDAR and drone surveys had already detected ground movement in several areas; academics at the meeting said existing law does not adequately address development on sloping land, and agencies were told to fold the research into operational plans and speed up early-warning installations. Karon, Kamala and the Khao Phanthurat hills at the western edge of Koh Kaew are the named at-risk areas.

As of 20 July 2026, EXAT is cited putting land acquisition for the Kathu–Patong section at about 99%, with the remaining plots expected by September 2026. The revised project returns to cabinet in the fourth quarter of 2026; if approved, construction could start in 2027 and take about four years, opening around 2031. The tunnel is 1.85 km, narrowed to 14 m, with proposed tolls of ฿20 for cars and ฿10 for motorcycles.

Reported 18 May 2026: the Department of Business Development is investigating more than 50,000 companies in tourist hotspots for nominee ownership — 19,910 foreign-linked firms in Pattaya, 11,626 in Phuket, 8,213 on Samui, 2,381 on Phangan and 2,081 in Hua Hin — screening for red flags such as a foreign national holding the maximum shareholding with sole signing authority, or one Thai citizen appearing as director across many unrelated firms. Foreign Business Act penalties run to three years' imprisonment and fines of ฿300,000 to ฿1,000,000; new registration rules requiring shareholders' bank statements and signed declarations are said to have cut high-risk nominee registrations by 75% since January 2026.

The Department of Business Development cross-checked land-holding data on 144,706 entities received from the Department of Lands against 125,662 companies under its oversight: 123,542 hold real estate, of which 87,265 are wholly Thai-owned and 36,277 have foreign shareholders — 31,516 at or below 49% and 4,761 above. Holdings concentrate in Bangkok and five surrounding provinces plus ten tourism provinces including Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, 35,154 entities in 16 provinces. Violations of the Foreign Business Act carry up to three years' imprisonment or fines of ฿100,000 to ฿1m, or both.

On 6 August 2026 police raided eight Phuket locations — vehicle rentals, car washes, schools, restaurants, IT and electronics shops, a pharmacy — and prosecuted 16 people: 10 Thais, two Canadians, three Russians and one Kazakhstani. Police are working through 361 companies with the Phuket Provincial Land Office and its Thalang branch, with 114 sued and 31 nominee cases so far; the inquiry, led by the deputy interior minister with the Department of Lands and the Commerce Ministry, treats recently naturalised Thai citizens holding shares as suspected fronts, and more than 100 Phuket firms with over ฿5bn of revenue last year are under financial review.