By The Book: Pricing your property accurately
PHUKET: When listing your property for sale, one of the most important things to do is establish an asking price. As the seller, you don’t want to set the price too low and miss out. Equally, you must not price too high as you can put off potential buyers.
The first step to correctly pricing a property is to have an industry professional value it for you.
Valuation is the process of estimating the most probable price that would be paid under typical market conditions at the date of valuation.
A sale at ‘fair market value’ is by definition the amount of money a well-informed buyer would pay and a well-informed seller would accept for the property that has been on the open market for a reasonable amount of time, assuming neither buyer nor seller is acting under pressure.
When a sale is deemed valid, it can be used to help determine fair market value for other, similar properties. The goal is to value all properties fairly and equally, while being as close to fair market value as possible.
There are three methods for valuing a property, outlined below.
The ‘market approach’ involves comparing a property with characteristics of similar properties that have recently been sold.
The ‘cost approach’ involves estimating the replacement cost of a structure, and adjusting that estimate to account for depreciation.
The ‘income approach’ is an analysis of a property’s value based on its capacity to generate revenue for the owner.
Due to the embryonic nature of the Phuket property market, the ‘market approach’ is most commonly used – valuating homes based on what an average person would be willing to pay for a similar property in the province.
This data is derived by looking at current sales in Phuket. Every attempt is made to use sales that have the same characteristics as the property to be valued – the ‘subject property’. These would include, but are not limited, to the total area and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, for instance.
If a subject property doesn’t have enough matching sales, adjustments are made to the sale properties most closely resembling that one to create a more equitable value.
Consider what you paid for the property, how long you have lived there, local comparable property prices, any improvements added, present condition of the property, ask about the current property climate, and arm yourself with the facts. By not establishing a realistic price from the beginning, many home sellers end up costing themselves hundreds of thousands of baht.
Do not over price the property and think you can wait, because you are not in a hurry to sell. This in fact has the opposite effect. The buyer sees that the property has been on the market for a year or more and asks ‘what’s wrong with it?’.
It’s a mistake to be greedy and ask for an unrealistic selling price. Buyers have a wide selection to choose from and will simply go elsewhere.
Supply and demand is also a factor in determining the value of your property. If there are a lot of sellers and few buyers, prices tend to go down, and homes take longer to sell in a ‘buyer’s market’.
When the opposite is true and there are many buyers but few homes for sale, prices rise and homes sell very quickly in a ‘seller’s market’.
A common mistake made by Phuket property owners is to over price their property when they initially list it. This is not necessarily due to the owner being greedy, but simply because they did not have access to the correct information to make a proper valuation in current market conditions.
Sellers often tell brokers that they want to price their house at X, because their neighbor’s house is on the market for a higher price. Or they heard a house down the road from them just sold for X price.
Unfortunately, their neighbor’s house is probably overpriced too and won’t ever sell at that asking price. With re-sales, it’s difficult to find information widely available on the actual selling price so when a neighbor tells you they got a great price for their house, take it with a pinch of salt. And ask your broker for an accurate valuation.
For more information about this article contact Kevin Hodges, Siam Real Estate (SRE) at 076-324 042 or email: kevin@siamrealestate.com; www.siamrealestate.com
— Kevin Hodges
Thailand Property FAQ
Can foreigners buy property in Thailand?
Yes. Foreigners can own condominium units freehold, as long as foreign buyers hold no more than 49% of the building's saleable area. Land cannot be owned directly by foreigners; houses are usually held through a 30-year lease — and since a March 2025 Supreme Court ruling, automatic “30+30+30” renewal structures are not enforceable beyond the first 30 years. Read the full foreign-ownership guide.
What is Thailand's 49% foreign quota?
In any condominium project, no more than 49% of the total saleable floor area can be foreign-owned. The quota applies only to condos — not houses, land or leaseholds — and popular buildings in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya can hit the cap. How the quota works in practice.
How much are property transfer fees in 2026?
The transfer registration fee is cut to 0.01% (from the standard 2%) and the mortgage registration fee to 0.01% (from 1%) for purchases where both the price and assessed value are 7 million baht or less — extended by the Cabinet on June 30, 2026. On a 6-million-baht home that saves around 120,000 baht. Who qualifies for the cut · Standard fees & who pays what.
Is it better to rent or buy in Thailand as an expat?
It mostly depends on your time horizon: for stays under roughly five years renting usually wins once transfer costs and resale friction are counted, while longer stays can favour buying — especially with 2026's reduced fees. The rent-vs-buy maths for expats.
How much does property cost in Thailand?
A little over 2 million baht buys a freehold one-bedroom condo in central Chiang Mai — the same budget covers only a studio in Bangkok's CBD. Prices vary sharply by region and city. Average prices by region, and what they buy you.
What taxes do property owners pay in Thailand?
Owners pay the annual land and building tax, and rental income is taxable; buyers and sellers split one-off costs like transfer fees, stamp duty or specific business tax depending on the deal. The go-to guide to Thai property taxes.
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