Phuket property returns: what actually reaches your account
I count net, not dreams. This page is the arithmetic behind a Phuket purchase: what the property earns gross, what comes out of that before it reaches you, what the entry and the ownership cost, and which questions belong to a tax adviser in your own country rather than to me.
There is nothing mysterious about Phuket yields. The gap between a brochure figure and what lands in your account comes from four things, all knowable in advance: occupancy, the management fee, the running costs and tax. Put them in and the number gets smaller and becomes true.
What a realistic net yield looks like
Across the island a well-chosen unit produces a net yield of 6-8%. In the strongest rental locations, Bang Tao and Laguna, the figure is 4-6% net, which is the same property showing 7-9% gross before deductions. That is not a contradiction, it is the management fee and the running costs becoming visible. Occupancy across a full year runs at 60-70%, not at the high-season rate multiplied by twelve, and the management company takes 20-30% of revenue, charged on turnover rather than on profit. Anyone quoting 10-15% net is either counting a different number or not counting at all.
- gross revenue = nightly rate x nights actually sold, at 60-70% occupancy;
- minus the management share of 20-30% of revenue;
- minus common area fees at around 80 THB per m2 per month;
- minus utilities, insurance, furniture refresh and rental income tax;
- divided by the full cost of entry, not by the headline price.
That last line is where most optimistic calculations are made. Leave three cost-of-entry items out of the denominator and the yield improves by two or three points with nothing real having changed. The full method, worked through step by step, is in calculating the net rental yield in Phuket.
Guaranteed yield programmes
A guaranteed rental programme is a commercial promise from a developer for a defined number of years, and it can be a sensible thing to take. What I want you to understand is where the money comes from. The guarantee is usually priced into the unit, so you are, to a degree, being paid back your own premium on a schedule. The questions that matter are what happens when the guarantee period ends, what the building actually earns without it, and how many days of personal use you give up. How these programmes work and what to read in one is in guaranteed rental yield in Thailand.
What the entry and the year of ownership cost
The cost of entry is the price plus the transfer and registration fee, the one-off sinking fund contribution at around 1,000 THB per square metre, commonly twelve months of common area fees requested at handover, meter and utility deposits, furniture and appliances, and legal fees for the contract and the transfer. On a new-build purchase my own commission is not on that list, because the developer pays it. On a resale the commission is 5-10% and the seller settles it. Every line, along with the taxes that arise when you sell, is itemised in Phuket purchase costs and taxes.
Then the standing costs, which are modest and predictable: common area fees at roughly 80 THB per square metre per month, about 48,000 THB a year for a 50 m2 apartment; metered electricity and water, dominated by air conditioning; an annual land and building tax at a low residential rate; and insurance on the interior and contents. A low fee per square metre is not automatically good news, because an underfunded building looks tired within a few years and that shows up in both the nightly rate and the resale price. The figures are set out line by line in the cost of owning property in Thailand.
Who actually rents it out
The management company is the largest recurring deduction, so it is worth choosing rather than accepting. A hotel rental pool and independent short-term letting behave differently on revenue, on your own use of the apartment and on how much control you keep. Twenty to thirty per cent of revenue is the normal range here; if someone quotes ten to fifteen, read what is excluded. What to check in the contract is in property management and rentals in Phuket.
The tax question I do not answer
Rental income tax and the taxes on a sale are paid in Thailand, and the current rates on the date of your transaction come from a Thai accountant, not from an article. Separately, your own country may tax worldwide income, may require you to report a foreign asset, and may or may not give you credit for tax already paid in Thailand under a treaty. That answer depends entirely on where you are resident, and it is the one question where a wrong assumption is expensive. What to ask your own adviser, in the right order, is in tax at home on Thai property.
I introduce clients to Thai accountants and to the legal partners I work with before the purchase rather than in the first year of ownership, because a structure is far easier to set up correctly than to unwind. The property side, the building's economics and the net calculation are mine. The filings are theirs.
Articles in this section
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.
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”
Read the yield calculation first, then the two cost articles, because together they are the denominator. If you want this done on a specific unit rather than in general, I will build the full net figure for it.
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.
