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ResourcesThailand Real Estate & Property LawThailand Condominium LawForeign Ownership of Thai Condos Increases Over 40 Percent?

Foreign Ownership of Thai Condos Increases Over 40 Percent?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the rate of foreign ownership of condos in Thailand increasing by 40%. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from Khao Sod English, that's khaosodenglish.com, the article is titled: Thai Real Estate to Attract Foreign Investors up to THB 150 Billion. Quoting directly and I do urge those who are watching this video, there is a lot more information in that article, go check it out for yourself. This is a small excerpt I am going to quote. "The number of foreign owned condominiums increased by 40.8%, from 8,199 units in 2021 to 11,561 units in 2022, with a total value of around Thai Baht 59 billion or 1.73 billion US Dollars." So that is really interesting to me that just in a year's time we have seen a massive uptick in foreign ownership of condo. 

For those who are unaware, it is possible notwithstanding the restrictions on land ownership here in Thailand or real estate ownership here in Thailand, foreign nationals can own a Thai condo in Freehold, what we would call fee simple absolute in the American Common Law tradition, it is possible to own a condo in Thailand outright. That is a possibility. You can own a Thai condo here and many people avail themselves of this option and it can be a very beneficial thing to a foreign national. In my opinion, it lends permanence to one's position here in Thailand; you can get Chanote title, so again Freehold title; you can also depending on circumstances maybe possible to go ahead and get what's called a Yellow Tabian Baan or a Yellow House Book which in and of itself is not overly useful but it is an extra piece of documentation which shows that one is anchored to Thailand, shows one's legal domicile in Thailand; can also lead to one being able to get what is called a pink ID card which is an ID card similar to a Thai ID card but for foreigners who are living in Thailand and can demonstrate for example a House Book, in this case a Yellow House Book. 

So again, condo ownership can be a major benefit to foreigners operating here in Thailand and it is clear to me that there is substantial demand for ownership of condos in a freehold capacity because when you see a year on year rise of 40%, and go from 8,199 units to 11, 561 units, that is a significant increase by any measure. So again, it is probably something that many foreign nationals who are looking to live in Thailand may want to look into because again it provides a certain level of permanence and it allows someone who has the means to do it, to buy a condo, to not have to deal with things like paying rent here in the Kingdom of Thailand.