Buying property in Thailand as a foreigner

The one rule everything else hangs off

A foreigner cannot own Thai land in their personal name. A foreigner can own a condominium unit outright, freehold, forever — provided the building has room left in its foreign quota. Every building may sell up to 49% of its total saleable area to foreign buyers. Once that 49% is gone, the next foreign buyer is offered leasehold instead, usually 30 years with renewal promises that are far weaker than they sound.

So the first question on any unit is never "what's the price?" It is: is this unit inside the foreign freehold quota, in writing, today?

Your four realistic ownership routes

• Freehold condo (foreign quota). Cleanest route. Title deed in your name, resaleable to another foreigner, no structures required. Funds must arrive from abroad in foreign currency.
• Leasehold (30 years, registered). Common in villas and in sold-out condo buildings. Only a registered lease at the Land Office counts. Renewal clauses are contractual promises, not guaranteed rights — price the asset on 30 years, not 90.
• Thai company ownership. Legal only where the company is a genuine trading entity with real Thai shareholders. Nominee structures are illegal and are being enforced against. We do not arrange them.
• Long-term visa routes. LTR and Elite visas do not grant land ownership, but they change how comfortably you can hold and use the asset. Worth planning together with the purchase.

The costs nobody quotes you upfront

Budget 3–6% on top of the headline price for a resale purchase, and confirm which side is absorbing what before you sign the reservation.

Off-plan: where the upside and the risk both live

Buying off-plan in Thailand can mean 15–30% below the completed resale price, staged payments across construction, and first pick of the best stacks. It can also mean a stalled site and a deposit you cannot recover. The difference is almost entirely the developer.

Before we let a client sign, we check:

• Delivery record. Has this developer completed comparable projects, on time, in this province?
• Land and EIA status. Land paid for and titled; environmental approval issued, not "expected".
• Payment protection. Escrow or staged payments tied to verified construction milestones.
• Quota and contract. Foreign freehold reserved to your unit number in the sale and purchase agreement.

Getting your money in — the step most buyers get wrong

To register a foreign freehold condo, the Land Office needs evidence the purchase funds came in from overseas in foreign currency and were converted to baht in Thailand. That evidence is the FET (Foreign Exchange Transaction) form from the receiving bank. Transfer baht in, or convert offshore first, and you can be technically unable to register the unit in your name — after paying for it.

Send the full amount in your home currency, name yourself as remitter, and state "purchase of condominium unit [number], [project]" as the purpose.

What a sane process looks like

1. Define budget, use case and exit horizon before viewing anything.
2. Shortlist 5–8 units across two areas — never one project.
3. View in person, mid-week, and see the actual stack, not the show unit.
4. Reserve with a refundable deposit and a written cooling-off condition.
5. Legal due diligence: title, quota, encumbrances, developer solvency.
6. Remit funds correctly, obtain the FET, then transfer at the Land Office.

Contracts, legal due diligence and transfers are handled through our licensed brokerage operation, so the same team stays with you from shortlist to title deed.