Off-plan or completed: which one suits you
These are two different products for two different jobs. Off-plan is cheaper and carries more upside; a completed unit pays you from the first month and you can see exactly what you are buying. I will set out who each one suits, and how almost every concern about off-plan can be settled before you pay a deposit rather than after.
Buying at the construction stage
This is the lowest entry price in the market. From launch of sales to handover a project typically adds 20-30% in value, provided the developer has a track record and the location genuinely works. Neither of those conditions is optional; strip one away and the growth figure stops being reliable.
The second advantage is the payment structure. Instalments are interest free: usually around 30% down and then equal payments every six months over about two years, or a schedule such as 35/25/25/10/5. You are not freezing the whole amount at once, which for many of my clients is the difference between buying now and buying in three years. A bank mortgage is effectively unavailable to a foreign buyer here without a work permit and local income, so this developer instalment plan is the financing - the detail is in developer payment plans in Thailand.
The drawbacks are equally honest. There is no income until handover. You are buying from a rendering. Timelines can slip. And in substance you are funding the construction: until the title is registered you hold a contract, not a title deed.
How to close most of that risk
- Only look at developers with completed projects on Phuket, and compare their promised handover dates with the actual ones
- Visit, or view online, a building by the same developer two or three years after completion
- Check the land title, the construction permit and the environmental approval
- Read the contract for the handover date, the late delivery penalty and the refund terms if the project is not built
- Confirm that assignment of the contract is permitted - that is your exit route before completion
- Tie payments to construction milestones, not only to the calendar
That list is not a counsel of suspicion. It is a normal afternoon of work, and a good developer produces every one of those documents the same day you ask. I walk through the full process in how to check a Phuket developer.
Could you run both scenarios for me - an off-plan unit and a completed one in the same budget - so I can see the difference in numbers?.
Message me on WhatsApp →Buying a completed property
You see exactly what you are buying: the actual view from the window, the actual noise at night, the state of the common areas, how the management company behaves when something breaks. Income starts right after the transaction rather than in two years, which for a buyer who needs cash flow is decisive on its own.
The drawbacks: the price is higher than it was at launch and the remaining upside is more modest. On the resale market you also add a debt check - arrears on common area charges follow the unit, not the seller, and the transfer will not be registered until they are cleared. That check belongs in the condo due diligence checklist and it takes a day.
The question of liquidity on both
There is one more difference worth naming. An off-plan contract can usually be assigned to another buyer before completion, if the contract permits it - that is a real exit route, and in a rising market it is how a good number of investors take their profit without ever registering a title. A completed unit is sold the ordinary way, through the Land Office, and you should budget several months to a year for it.
Neither route is fast in the way a share portfolio is fast. If there is any chance you will need this money back inside two years, my honest advice is not to put it into Phuket property at all. That is not a market weakness; it is simply what real estate is, here and everywhere.
A note on villas
For villas the resale market is more interesting than usual at the moment. On a completed house the land lease is already registered, and assigning the remaining term goes through without the questions about payment schedules that currently come up during a first registration. One potential complication fewer, which on a villa purchase is worth real money.
What the numbers look like side by side
Take a 4.5 million baht studio. Bought off-plan at launch with 30% down, you commit about 1.35 million baht now and the rest in equal instalments over roughly two years, interest free. By handover the unit is typically worth 20-30% more, and only then does it start producing 6-8% net. Bought completed, you pay the full amount today and you are collecting rent next month.
Note what the instalments do to that comparison. Because a bank mortgage is effectively unavailable to a foreign buyer here, the interest-free developer schedule is the only leverage realistically available to you, and it is genuinely free - you are holding the rest of your capital for two more years while the unit appreciates. For a buyer whose money is earning something elsewhere in the meantime, that alone can close most of the gap between the two scenarios.
Which of those is better depends entirely on whether your goal is growth or cash flow. There is no version of this comparison where one wins on both. I run both scenarios for every client on the same spreadsheet, using the net method from net rental yield on Phuket, and the answer is usually obvious within ten minutes.
Who should pick which
- A three to five year horizon, aiming to earn on growth - off-plan at an early stage
- You need cash flow from the first month - a completed property
- You do not have the full amount available now - off-plan with interest-free instalments
- Buying for yourself and moving soon - a completed property
- You want both - a completed project by a developer who is currently building the next phase on the same site
Off-plan on Phuket is not a gamble; it is an ordinary investment instrument used by essentially everybody who makes money here. It simply has its own discipline: the right developer, the right contract, the right payment schedule. Providing that discipline is my job, and it happens before your deposit, not after it. What is left for you is the genuinely interesting decision - whether you would rather have growth in value or money from the first month.
- Projects I work with — developments where I hold direct terms from the developer
- Resale and contract assignments — completed units and assignments, often below launch pricing
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
Is it worth buying off-plan in Thailand?
What are the risks of buying a new build in Phuket?
Which is better for income, off-plan or completed?
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 run both scenarios for me - an off-plan unit and a completed one in the same budget - so I can see the difference in numbers?
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.
