Villa thrill-a: Russian buyers drive Phuket’s 2024 villa surge

Phuket’s villa market has seen a remarkable surge in the first half of 2024, surpassing the total launches for the entirety of 2023. For the first time in 15 years, the value of new villas has exceeded that of condominiums, driven primarily by robust demand from Russian buyers.

Phattarachai Taweewong, director of the research department at property consultancy Colliers Thailand, highlighted that the Phuket villa market is thriving and is expected to continue its strong performance throughout the year.

“Some projects were quiet in May and June because of floods but activity picked up significantly in July, with sales at one project reaching 400 to 500 million baht (US$11.7 million to 14.6 million) in just a month.”

Despite the influx of new supply, Phattarachai noted that demand remains robust, a sentiment that is likely to persist.

In the first half of 2024, Phuket saw the launch of 1,285 new villas from 65 projects, amounting to 36.3 billion baht (US$1 billion). This is a significant increase compared to around 1,100 units launched throughout 2023, said Phattarachai.

“There are 170 villa projects with units available for sale, most of which were launched in the past two years. The usual number was only 30 to 40 projects, with 100 to 150 new units launched per year.”

Phuket villa

Meanwhile, the number of new condominiums launched in the same period reached 4,690 units from 20 projects, valued at 36 billion baht (US$1 billion). This development marked the first instance in 15 years where the value of new condos was lower than that of villas.

Overall, the total value of condos and villas launched in the first half of the year stood at 72.3 billion baht (US$2 billion), with projections suggesting it could reach 150 billion baht (US$4.4 billion) by year-end, up from 110 billion baht (US$3.2 billion) last year.

A substantial amount of new supply is anticipated to be introduced in the fourth quarter, as per Phattarachai.

Among the upcoming projects in the second half of the year, four will be from Sansiri Plc, valued at around 4 billion baht (US$117 million). These will include a luxury pool villa project with units priced between 30 and 50 million baht (US$876,800 and 1.46 million), a condo project in Cherngtalay, and a new single detached house project in Koh Kaew.

Phattarachai noted that Bang Tao, Cherngtalay, and Rayan are locations where villas have the highest absorption rates, with two to three units sold per month, whereas other areas recorded only one to 1.5 units per month, reported Bangkok Post.

For condominiums, the absorption rate in the first half was 5.8 units per month, suggesting they would be sold out in under two years, particularly those priced below 2 million baht (US$58,500) per unit, as these prices are considered affordable.