Phuket or Pattaya: an honest comparison for an investor
These two markets get compared constantly and they are rarely competing for the same buyer. Pattaya is cheaper to enter, and I want to say straight away that cheaper is not the same as worse. What differs is who rents from you, how the year is shaped, and how the unit behaves when you decide to sell it.
Two markets that are not chasing the same buyer
Pattaya sits about two hours from Bangkok by road, and that one fact explains most of its economics. It has a permanent flow of weekend traffic from the capital, a large resident expatriate population and a dense supply of affordable condominium stock. Phuket is an island resort with an international airport, far more foreign demand and a market that has been built around visitors who fly in for a week or a season.
Both are real markets with real tenants. They simply monetise different behaviour. Pattaya converts proximity into volume, Phuket converts distance into rate. Neither model is superior in the abstract, and I have seen the wrong one chosen in both directions by people who were reading price per square metre and nothing else.
Entry price: Pattaya is cheaper, and that is not a flaw
In Phuket the market starts at around 4.5 million baht for a studio of 35-40 square metres. A one-bedroom of 50-55 square metres starts from about 6.5 million, a two-bedroom of 85-95 square metres from about 10.8 million, and villas from roughly 18 million. In Pattaya the same formats are available materially lower, and for a first purchase that difference is not a small thing: it is the difference between one unit and two, or between a purchase now and a purchase in three years.
What the lower entry actually buys you is a smaller ticket, not a smaller risk. The checks are identical, the quota question is identical, the contract is the same document. Where it changes the picture is the exit: a cheaper unit sits in a deeper, more competitive resale pool, because there is far more of it. That works both ways, and I will come back to it. The Phuket side of the price table is laid out in Phuket apartment prices.
Who your tenant actually is
This is the question I ask before anything else, because the tenant determines the rate, the occupancy and the wear on the unit.
- Pattaya. A larger share of long-stay tenants: resident expatriates, retirees, remote workers, and Thai weekenders from Bangkok. Longer contracts, steadier occupancy, lower nightly rates.
- Phuket. A larger share of short-stay international guests at holiday rates, plus a long-stay layer around the schools and the business districts.
- What that does to the numbers. Pattaya tends to earn a modest rate for more weeks of the year; Phuket earns a higher rate for fewer, with the high season carrying the result.
- What it does to the work. Nightly letting is an operation, and an operator takes 20-30% of revenue for running it. Anyone offering 10-15% as the standard is describing a narrower service than you think you are buying.
In my practice the sensible Phuket number is 60-70% occupancy and a net return of 6-8%, with Bang Tao and Laguna at 4-6% net against 7-9% gross. The method for getting from a brochure figure to the number that reaches your account is in calculating net rental yield, and it applies to Pattaya identically.
Seasonality: the shape of the year is different
Phuket's high season runs roughly from November to April. The island earns a disproportionate share of the year's revenue in those months, and a unit that is badly placed or badly managed can lose its result in a single weak winter. Pattaya has a flatter year, because Bangkok does not stop existing in the rainy season and the weekend flow continues regardless of the weather.
For income planning, flatter is easier and sharper is more rewarding when it goes well. If you need the unit to cover its own costs every month without you watching it, the flatter profile is kinder. If you are optimising the annual total and you have chosen the location carefully, the seasonal profile pays better. District by district, the Phuket version of that decision is set out in the best areas in Phuket to buy property.
Resale liquidity and project quality
Liquidity is the part that gets discovered late. In Phuket, exposure on a resale runs from a few months to a year, agent commission on the secondary market is 5-10%, and off-plan growth to handover in my practice is 20-30%. A foreign buyer with a freehold unit in a well-known project is selling into a pool of international buyers who understand exactly what they are looking at.
In Pattaya the resale pool is larger in headcount and thinner in conviction. There is a great deal of comparable stock, much of it older, and a generic unit in a generic building competes with dozens of near-identical neighbours. That does not make it illiquid. It makes location, building management and condition decide the price far more than the address does, and it makes older buildings harder work to exit than new ones.
- Project quality varies more in Pattaya, because the market has been building affordable stock for longer, and some of it has aged without a maintenance budget behind it.
- Check the sinking fund and the common charges in any older building before you fall in love with the price. Running costs of roughly 80 baht per square metre a month and a one-off sinking fund of about 1,000 baht per square metre are the Phuket benchmarks I work from.
- Check the developer either way. The completed-project history, the land title, the permits and the late delivery penalties matter in both cities, and the procedure is the same one I use here: how to check a developer before you pay.
- Foreign quota is 49% of residential floor area in both markets, and it is checked unit by unit, not project by project.
Which one I would choose, and when
If your budget is tight, you want a long-stay tenant, a flat income profile and a short flight from Bangkok, Pattaya is a rational answer and I would not argue you out of it. If you want an international tenant base, a stronger rate in season, a better-defined resale audience and an asset you may also want to live in, that is Phuket, and it is the market I know unit by unit. Either way the exit deserves modelling before the deposit, which is why I send everyone through how selling actually works in Thailand while they are still choosing.
- Investment property selection — net yield calculated on specific units
- 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
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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”
Tell me your budget and whether you want long-stay or holiday income, and I will show you what that money buys in Phuket with the net numbers written out.
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.
