Outside of Bangkok, Phuket is Thailand’s most established property market, and one of Asia’s most sophisticated. For more than twenty years developments have been sprouting up around the island, encouraging a large influx of investors. Phuket has a wide range of property choices; condominiums, apartments, houses and villas, so there is no shortage of options.
Phuket’s potential was recognized in the early eighties with mostly Bangkok Thai nationals purchasing the land and developing mostly commercial property business, resorts, and retail space. But now the development is more in residential villas and retirement homes for the wealthy. With political uncertainty and changes to the foreign business act in 2007, many investors are proceeding with caution, but are not deterred from investing in Phuket real estate. The Phuket property market is generally for the wealthy, but residential property away from the west coast is affordable but not the cheapest in Thailand.