What it costs to own property in Thailand
Buying is a decision you make once. Owning is a decision you make every year. The second question gets asked far less often than it deserves, and it is usually the reason a yield turns out lower than someone expected. So let me lay the whole thing out by line, with nothing kept back for later.
The standing costs
Common area fees
This is the main standing cost. It is charged on the floor area of your apartment, every month. The benchmark on good quality Phuket projects is around 80 THB per square metre per month. For a 50 m2 apartment that is roughly 4,000 THB a month, about 48,000 THB a year.
The money pays for security, cleaning, the pool, the lifts, landscaping and the upkeep of the common areas. A low rate is not automatically good news. A building run on a badly underfunded budget starts to look tired within a few years, and that shows up in both the nightly rate it can command and its resale price.
So when I compare two buildings, I look at whether the fee is realistic for what the project is promising to maintain. A tower with three pools, a gym and a lobby team on an unusually low rate is a future special assessment, not a bargain.
The sinking fund
A one-off contribution at handover, with a benchmark of around 1,000 THB per square metre. It is not an annual cost, but it belongs in your cost of entry, and it is one of the lines most often left out of a first calculation. For a 50 m2 unit that is roughly 50,000 THB paid once.
It sits alongside the other one-time costs of the transaction, all of which I list in purchase costs and taxes in Phuket.
Land and building tax
Thailand does levy an annual property tax, and for residential property the rates are low, starting from hundredths of a percent of assessed value. For most apartments this is not an amount that changes a decision, but it is a real obligation and it needs to be paid on time.
Utilities
Electricity and water are metered. The dominant consumer is air conditioning, by a wide margin. An apartment lived in year-round runs a noticeably higher electricity bill than one occupied a few weeks at a time, which is worth remembering when you compare a holiday home with a rental unit.
If the apartment is let
- Management company fee. On short-term rental this is normally 20-30% of revenue, charged on turnover rather than on profit.
- Cleaning between stays and consumables. Usually inside the fee, sometimes billed separately. Worth confirming which, in writing.
- Wear. Furniture and appliances have a shorter life under daily letting. Budget for a refresh every few years.
- Rental income tax. Payable in Thailand, at a rate that depends on whether the income is registered to an individual or to a company.
Those four lines are exactly what separates the gross figure in a brochure from the number that reaches your account. The full method for turning one into the other is in how to calculate net rental yield in Phuket, and the choice of management format is covered in who will actually rent out your apartment.
Insurance
Insurance on the building itself is normally included in the common area fees. What the owner insures is the interior finish, the contents and liability towards neighbours. The premium is small.
The reason I mention it at all is that a leak reaching the apartment below is an ordinary event in Phuket, not an exotic one. Air conditioning units, washing machines and bathroom seals all do it eventually, and a modest policy turns a difficult conversation into a claim form.
If the property is held through a company
Accounting, audit and annual corporate filings are added to everything above. That is precisely why I do not recommend the Thai company structure to people buying a home for themselves. Maintaining that structure costs money every year and requires the company to be genuine, with real activity and real filings.
For a condominium there is no need for it at all: an apartment inside the 49% foreign freehold quota registers directly in your own name, with no structure around it and no annual company cost.
What it adds up to
For a typical 50 m2 apartment let through a management company, the recurring costs are the common area fees, utilities, tax, insurance and the management share. That combined figure is exactly what I subtract from rental revenue when I calculate a net yield. What remains after it is your result, and it is the only number worth comparing between properties.
It is also worth noting what is not on this list. There is no annual ground rent on a condominium, no mandatory service contract you cannot leave, and no charge for the advisory work itself on a new-build purchase, because my commission is paid by the developer.
What changes the annual figure most
- The class of the building. A project with three pools, a gym, a lobby team and landscaped grounds costs more per square metre to maintain than a quiet low-rise, and it should.
- The size of the unit. Every fee here is charged by floor area, so a 95 m2 two-bedroom carries roughly twice the standing cost of a 50 m2 one-bedroom.
- Whether the apartment is let. The management share is the single largest recurring line for any owner who rents, and it is charged on revenue rather than profit.
- How much of the year it is occupied by you personally. Air conditioning is most of the electricity bill, and permanent occupancy shows up clearly on the meter.
- Whether the property sits inside a company structure, which adds accounting and audit every year regardless of what the property does.
Who handles what
The running costs, the building's budget and the management terms are my side of the work, and I price them on the actual project rather than on a market average. The annual tax filing, and anything touching your position at home, sits with the Thai accountants and tax advisers I work with. I introduce them before the purchase rather than in the first year of ownership, because a structure is much easier to set up correctly than to unwind.
Running costs in Thailand are predictable and, honestly, modest by European standards. The problem has never been their size. The problem is when nobody mentions them until after the keys are handed over, and a yield that looked like seven turns out to be five. In my calculation they sit as their own line from the first email, with the actual figures for the actual building, so that after the purchase there is nothing left for anyone to discover.
- Yield calculator — run your own numbers in a minute
- Projects I work with — developments where I hold direct terms from the developer
Legal, visa and tax work is not mine — it belongs to partners I use constantly
I am an investment strategist: I select the property, calculate the net return, check the developer and run the transaction. Anything that needs a legal, immigration or tax qualification goes to specialists I have worked with for years.
- Thai lawyers — document and contract review, land title, registration at the Land Office, wills, powers of attorney, corporate questions
- Visa partners — choosing and filing the right route for your situation: investment-based, LTR, Thailand Privilege, retirement, DTV
- Tax specialists — reporting in your country of tax residence, treaty credit for Thai tax, declarations on foreign assets
- Company formation in Thailand — when a structure is genuinely needed and lawful
- Rental management and concierge — letting the property, transfers, yachts, events
I introduce partners personally, matched to your actual question, so that you speak to the specialist who handles it rather than to a general inbox. Message me and I will make the introduction.
Frequently asked
How much are common area fees in Phuket?
Is there an annual property tax in Thailand?
How much does a management company charge to rent out an apartment?
Lyubov Fortunova
Investment strategist and founder of Fortunova Capital Group. I have lived on Phuket for more than five years and run every deal myself: I select the property, calculate the net return, check the developer and hold the process together until the keys are handed over. Lawyers, visa and tax specialists come from my own circle.
“I count net, not dreams”
Could you work out the annual running costs and the net yield on the unit I am looking at, as one table?
I answer personally, within the working day, in any time zone. No calls unless you want them. A question about the article is free and commits you to nothing.
