What rental yield can you get in Chiang Mai now?

Get all the data you need about the real estate market in Chiang Mai

What rental yield can you realistically get in Chiang Mai now?

A realistic Chiang Mai rental yield today is around 5.5–6.5% gross for a well-bought residential property, while roughly 4–5% net is a more sensible expectation once the normal costs of being a landlord are included.

The freshest broad listing snapshot supports that range. Vurel is currently tracking more than 43,000 Chiang Mai listings across ten property portals. Its latest data put the overall gross yield at about 6.5%, with condo-only listings at roughly 6.76%. Those figures come from asking prices and asking rents, so they show where the market is being advertised rather than what every landlord eventually earns.

A separate neighborhood dataset gives a useful reality check. Across 33 combinations of location and property size, the median gross yield comes out at about 6.0%, with most observations sitting in the mid-single digits. Once vacancy and recurring ownership costs are included, the median falls to roughly 4.1%.

So 6% gross is a perfectly believable Chiang Mai number these days. We would be much more cautious with someone promising 6% net from an ordinary long-term rental.

The easiest way to test a deal is to work backward from the purchase price. A ฿3 million property needs roughly ฿15,000 a month to reach 6% gross. At ฿5 million, the required rent is ฿25,000. At ฿8 million, it is ฿40,000.

Purchase price	Rent for 5% gross	Rent for 6% gross	Rent for 7% gross	Rent for 8% gross
฿2.0m	฿8,333	฿10,000	฿11,667	฿13,333
฿3.0m	฿12,500	฿15,000	฿17,500	฿20,000
฿4.0m	฿16,667	฿20,000	฿23,333	฿26,667
฿5.0m	฿20,833	฿25,000	฿29,167	฿33,333
฿6.0m	฿25,000	฿30,000	฿35,000	฿40,000
฿8.0m	฿33,333	฿40,000	฿46,667	฿53,333

Why do Chiang Mai rental-yield estimates vary so much?

Chiang Mai yield estimates jump around because many websites are comparing different properties, different rental periods and different definitions of “yield.”

The first source of confusion is asking data. Imagine a condo advertised at ฿3 million while a similar unit in the same building is advertised for ฿18,000 a month. That produces a 7.2% gross yield on paper. The calculation assumes the buyer pays ฿3 million, the landlord gets ฿18,000 every month and there is no vacancy.

Any of those assumptions can change. A buyer negotiating the purchase down to ฿2.7 million improves the gross yield to 8%. A landlord accepting ฿16,000 rent drops it to 6.4%. One empty month reduces annual rent again.

Property type creates another gap. Small condos can rent for a lot per square metre, yet fashionable new buildings can also be expensive per square metre. Family houses in San Sai or Hang Dong may look cheap relative to their monthly rent, although their maintenance bill can be much heavier.

Then there is the difference between gross and net yield. Gross yield is simply annual rent divided by purchase price. Net yield gets closer to the owner's real return after common fees, vacancy, repairs, insurance, management and other recurring expenses.

Short-term rental assumptions can make the spread even wider. A condo modeled as nightly accommodation can show a completely different revenue figure from the same condo rented on a 12-month contract.

When we see a Chiang Mai yield quoted without the property type, lease length and cost assumptions, the percentage tells us very little.

Can you really net 6% from a Chiang Mai rental?

A 6% net yield in Chiang Mai can happen, but right now it sits above what we would consider normal for a conventional long-term rental.

Take a ฿3.3 million property renting for ฿18,000 a month. Full occupancy gives ฿216,000 in annual rent, or 6.55% gross.

Lose one month between tenants and annual rent falls to ฿198,000. If the condo is 45 square metres and charges ฿50 per square metre per month in common fees, another ฿27,000 disappears. Add routine repairs, appliance replacement, air-conditioner servicing and insurance, and the owner's return can move quickly toward the mid-4% range.

That pattern also shows up in neighborhood-level modeling. One broad Chiang Mai dataset places many gross returns near 6%, while estimated net results usually land between roughly 3.7% and 4.7%.

Common fees deserve more attention than they usually get. A 40-square-metre condo charging ฿50 per square metre per month costs ฿24,000 a year before the owner has repaired anything. On a ฿3 million property, that expense alone removes 0.8 percentage points from the return.

Premium buildings can charge much more. Older buildings sometimes keep fees low and then surprise owners with bigger repairs later.

For a normal Chiang Mai condo, 4–5% net looks credible today. A true 6% net deal needs either a very good purchase price, unusually strong rent, unusually low costs or some combination of the three.

Which Chiang Mai neighborhood gives the best rental yield now?

Santitham and Chang Phueak currently stand out if the goal is straightforward rental income, while Nimman remains stronger when tenant depth and resale visibility matter almost as much as yield.

Santitham is the clearest example. A representative two-bedroom property around ฿3.3 million with rent near ฿18,000 works out at roughly 6.5% gross and about 4.7% net in the neighborhood data.

Chang Phueak and Jed Yod come close. A two-bedroom property around ฿3.6 million renting for approximately ฿19,000 produces about 6.3% gross and 4.6% net.

Nimman is much more expensive, yet its rents are also much higher. A two-bedroom example around ฿5.8 million with rent close to ฿30,000 still reaches roughly 6.2% gross and 4.6% net.

That comparison is more interesting than simply saying Santitham is cheaper. In these examples, the modeled net-yield gap between Santitham and Nimman is only around 0.1 percentage point. The extra money paid in Nimman buys a location that new arrivals already know, a broader tenant pool and usually better resale visibility.

Elsewhere, Chang Khlan, Fa Ham and Mae Hia can also reach the low-to-mid 6% range gross when the entry price is right. The cheapest neighborhood is not automatically the best income investment.

Area	Example	Purchase price	Monthly rent	Gross yield	Estimated net yield
Santitham	2BR	฿3.3m	฿18,000	6.5%	4.7%
Chang Phueak / Jed Yod	2BR	฿3.6m	฿19,000	6.3%	4.6%
Nimman / Suthep	2BR	฿5.8m	฿30,000	6.2%	4.6%
Chang Khlan	2BR	฿4.2m	฿22,000	6.3%	4.5%
Fa Ham	2BR	฿3.9m	฿20,000	6.2%	4.5%
Old City	2BR	฿4.8m	฿24,000	6.0%	4.3%

Is Nimman still worth buying when Chiang Mai condo prices are higher there?

Nimman still makes sense for rental investors today, but only when the rent justifies the premium price of the exact unit.

The area has unusually deep demand. Foreign long-stayers, remote workers, university-linked tenants, young professionals and new arrivals all understand what “Nimman” means before they know most other Chiang Mai neighborhoods. That makes advertising easier and reduces the risk of owning a property in an area tenants simply never search for.

The danger is paying for features that tenants do not value enough. A new building, mountain view, fashionable developer or limited foreign quota can push the purchase price up much faster than the monthly rent.

The math becomes unforgiving. If two similar one-bedroom condos can both rent for around ฿20,000, buying one at ฿3.4 million gives roughly 7.1% gross. Paying ฿5 million for the other cuts the yield to 4.8%.

Nothing happened to the rental market in that example. The investor simply overpaid.

Recent listing data also show how wide the Chiang Mai pricing range has become. Vurel's current condo-only median is around ฿66,500 per square metre citywide, while sought-after newer Nimman projects can sit well above that.

We still like Nimman for a landlord who cares about occupancy and eventual resale. We would not pay a large premium just because the address is fashionable.

Are two-bedroom condos better Chiang Mai rentals than one-bedrooms?

Two-bedroom condos currently look unusually attractive in several Chiang Mai neighborhoods because the extra rent often compensates for the higher purchase price.

Across the neighborhood dataset we reviewed, one-bedroom gross yields generally sit around the low-to-mid 5% range and sometimes reach 6%. Two-bedroom examples more often move into the low-to-mid 6% range.

Santitham illustrates it well. The modeled net yield rises from about 4.5% for a one-bedroom to 4.7% for a two-bedroom. Chang Phueak/Jed Yod moves from roughly 4.3% to 4.6%. Chang Khlan improves from around 4.1% to 4.5%.

The renter base explains part of it. A two-bedroom can work for a couple needing an office, two people sharing, a small family or long-stay foreigners who simply want more room. That gives the landlord more ways to fill the property.

Small units still have one clear advantage: they require less capital and usually attract more potential buyers on resale. A good ฿2 million one-bedroom can therefore be easier to exit than a ฿5 million two-bedroom.

For income alone, though, we would currently look very closely at well-priced two-bedroom units around Santitham, Chang Phueak, Suthep and Chang Khlan rather than assuming the smallest condo always gives the highest yield.

Do Chiang Mai houses yield more than condos, and can foreigners buy them as easily?

Houses in Mae Hia, Hang Dong and San Sai can produce gross yields around the mid-6% range, but foreign ownership rules and higher running costs make them much less straightforward than condos.

The numbers can look excellent at first glance. A Mae Hia three-bedroom property around ฿6 million renting near ฿33,000 gives approximately 6.6% gross. A Hang Dong example around ฿5.5 million with ฿30,000 rent reaches about 6.5%. A San Sai property around ฿5 million and ฿28,000 rent gets close to 6.7%.

The net returns are much less spectacular. Modeled results for those suburban properties fall to roughly 4.1–4.2%.

Houses simply have more things that can go wrong. Roofs, exterior paint, gardens, pumps, drainage, gates, pest treatment and several large air-conditioning units can create expenses that a small condo owner does not face.

Location also becomes extremely specific. A house close to an international school, Kad Farang or a practical road network can rent well to families. Move farther away without cutting the price enough and the tenant pool can shrink very quickly.

Foreign investors face another constraint. Thailand's official condominium rules allow qualifying foreign buyers to own freehold units within the statutory foreign quota, which is capped at 49% of the condominium's total unit area. Direct foreign land ownership is far more restricted.

That legal difference gives condos a big practical advantage. A Thai buyer may find a strong-yielding house easy to own. A foreign investor comparing the same headline yield has to think about ownership structure as well as rent.

Area	Example property	Purchase price	Monthly rent	Gross yield	Estimated net yield
Mae Hia	3BR	฿6.0m	฿33,000	6.6%	4.2%
Hang Dong	3BR	฿5.5m	฿30,000	6.5%	4.1%
San Sai	3BR	฿5.0m	฿28,000	6.7%	4.2%
Nimman / Suthep	3BR	฿9.5m	฿50,000	6.3%	4.3%
Wat Ket / Riverside	3BR	฿8.8m	฿45,000	6.1%	4.0%

Does Chiang Mai have enough tenants to keep rental yields around 6%?

Chiang Mai still has enough rental demand to support mid-single-digit yields, although the strongest demand is concentrated around a handful of neighborhoods and tenant groups.

Several rental markets overlap in the city. Chiang Mai University and other institutions support student, academic and staff demand. Hospitals attract medical workers and longer-stay visitors. International schools help drive family rentals in Mae Hia and Hang Dong. Nimman and Suthep remain magnets for foreign long-stayers and remote workers.

Tourism adds another layer. The National Statistical Office recorded about 11.5 million Chiang Mai visitors and roughly ฿103.8 billion in visitor receipts in 2024, both higher than the previous year. That does not mean tourists directly rent ordinary condos for a year, but a large visitor economy keeps restaurants, coworking spaces, hospitality jobs and international services alive while continually introducing people to the city.

Recent property-market evidence also suggests foreign demand still matters. REIC reported that foreign buyers were supporting Chiang Mai condominium sales even while the wider northern housing market was slowing.

The important part for landlords is geography. Nimman, Suthep, Santitham and Chang Phueak sit inside the university and lifestyle belt. Mae Hia and Hang Dong work better for families. Fa Ham benefits from Central Festival and the eastern road network.

Demand becomes much harder to judge once a property sits away from those obvious renter magnets.

For now, normal long-term rents in proven areas look defensible. We would not extend the same occupancy assumptions to every condo or house simply because the address says Chiang Mai.

Does Chiang Mai's smoky season hurt rental returns?

Chiang Mai's smoky season can hurt rental income, especially for properties aimed at flexible foreign tenants, but annual leases soften the effect considerably.

Remote workers and seasonal residents can leave the city during the worst air-quality period. Families with children in school, university staff and local professionals are much less mobile.

The financial impact depends on how often the owner needs to replace tenants. A ฿3 million condo renting for ฿15,000 appears to yield 6% if occupied for 12 months. Lose two months of rent and the annual income falls to ฿150,000, which brings the gross yield down to 5% before common fees or repairs.

That one calculation explains why an investor should be careful with a property aimed mainly at one-to-three-month foreign renters.

Annual leases change the picture. A tenant signing for a full year may travel during smoky season without giving up the apartment. In that case, air pollution can be more of a tenant-retention issue than a direct vacancy event.

The risk is highest in buildings whose appeal depends heavily on digital nomads and short flexible stays. It is lower in properties serving families, university-linked tenants and people living in Chiang Mai full time.

We would therefore include some vacancy buffer even in a strong central location rather than underwriting twelve perfect months every year.

Can Airbnb turn a 6% Chiang Mai rental yield into 10%?

We would not use Airbnb revenue to justify a Chiang Mai condo purchase that looks mediocre on a normal long-term lease.

The reason starts with regulation. Thailand regulates hotel-style temporary accommodation, and authorities have repeatedly warned condo owners about illegal daily rentals. Individual condominium rules can impose further restrictions. Monthly and longer residential leases are far easier to underwrite for a conventional investor.

The revenue calculation is also easy to exaggerate. Suppose a condo could rent for ฿18,000 a month on a normal contract, giving ฿216,000 a year before vacancy.

At ฿1,500 a night, someone can multiply by 365 and claim potential revenue of ฿547,500. That figure looks spectacular because it assumes every night is occupied.

At 50% occupancy, room revenue falls to around ฿274,000. Then come platform commissions, electricity, water, cleaning, linen, guest communication, consumables, management and heavier furnishing wear.

The gap over the long-term lease can shrink very quickly, and the investor has taken on a much more complicated operation to earn it.

A Chiang Mai condo should already make sense under legal long-term rental assumptions. Any additional short-stay upside should be a bonus, not the number rescuing the investment case.

How much do vacancy and condo fees cut Chiang Mai rental yields?

One vacant month plus ordinary condo costs can easily knock more than 1.5 percentage points off a Chiang Mai property's headline yield.

Consider a 40-square-metre condo bought for ฿3 million and rented at ฿15,000 a month. With twelve months occupied, annual rent is ฿180,000 and gross yield is exactly 6%.

One empty month drops annual income to ฿165,000 and gross yield to 5.5%.

Now assume common fees of ฿50 per square metre per month. That costs ฿24,000 annually and leaves ฿141,000, equivalent to 4.7% of the purchase price.

Set aside another ฿10,000 for air-conditioner servicing, small repairs, appliances, insurance and other routine costs. The return falls to around 4.37%.

There is nothing extreme in that scenario. The landlord did not suffer a major renovation or a long vacancy. Normal friction was enough to take the investment from a clean 6% headline yield to the low 4% range.

Higher-end buildings can charge much heavier fees, while very old condominiums sometimes create the opposite problem: low monthly charges followed by larger one-off repair bills.

฿3m condo example	Annual income left	Yield on purchase price
12 months at ฿15,000	฿180,000	6.00%
After one vacant month	฿165,000	5.50%
After ฿24,000 common fees	฿141,000	4.70%
After ฿10,000 routine reserve	฿131,000	4.37%

Does Chiang Mai have too much property supply for landlords?

Chiang Mai has enough housing supply today that landlords cannot assume rents will rise simply because the city remains popular.

The latest detailed REIC survey of five northern provinces found 19,268 homes being offered for sale in the first half of 2025, up 14.7% from a year earlier. Remaining unsold supply reached 17,407 units, up 16.9%, while new sales slipped 2.1%.

Finished but unsold stock was especially visible between ฿2 million and ฿5 million. REIC counted 2,088 completed unsold homes in the ฿2.01–3 million bracket and another 1,911 between ฿3.01 million and ฿5 million across the surveyed northern markets.

Chiang Mai has historically represented the majority of that northern inventory. In an earlier REIC snapshot, it accounted for about 62% of remaining units across the five provinces.

The figures lean heavily toward low-rise housing, so they do not tell us that every central Chiang Mai condo is oversupplied. Still, they are a useful warning against assuming automatic capital appreciation or rent growth.

Same-building competition is often more useful than province-wide supply data. If twenty nearly identical one-bedroom condos are currently offered for rent in the same Fa Ham development, the tenant can compare price, view, furniture and floor with almost no effort.

That competition can keep rents flat even when Chiang Mai itself is attracting more residents.

Before buying, we would pay close attention to how many comparable units are already for rent inside the exact building.

Are Chiang Mai rental yields better than Bangkok or Phuket?

Chiang Mai currently offers a strong combination of low entry price and decent rental income, but it does not consistently produce higher percentage yields than every other Thai market.

The attraction is affordability. A foreign buyer can still find ordinary Chiang Mai condos around the low-million-baht range, while ฿2–4 million opens many more possibilities. Prime Bangkok and major Phuket resort locations can require far more capital for a comparable investment-grade unit.

Percentage yields are less clear-cut. Bangkok contains plenty of expensive central properties yielding poorly, yet smaller condos farther from the core can generate strong returns. Phuket can also produce high gross rental income, although buyers usually accept much greater exposure to tourism and higher purchase prices.

Pattaya often competes well on gross yield because of its deep rental demand from retirees and tourists. Some Bangkok-adjacent markets also show good yields because property values remain low relative to rent.

Chiang Mai's appeal is the package: low capital requirement, a recognizable long-stay foreign market, large student and local populations, and gross residential yields that can still reach around 6%.

If the only goal is maximizing the percentage yield, we would shop several Thai cities. If the goal is buying a manageable property for a few million baht and earning a reasonable long-term return, Chiang Mai remains highly competitive.

Should you chase an 8–10% Chiang Mai rental yield?

An ordinary Chiang Mai property advertising 8–10% yield deserves extra scrutiny, because the current market evidence clusters much closer to 6% gross.

At 8% gross, a ฿3 million property needs ฿20,000 monthly rent. At 10%, it needs ฿25,000. Those rents are possible in Chiang Mai, but the unit has to justify them.

Several explanations can produce an unusually high figure. The owner may genuinely be selling cheaply. The advertised rent may be aggressive. The calculation may assume short-term letting. Common fees and vacancy may have been ignored. The location may carry weaker tenant demand or poor resale liquidity. Sometimes a developer guarantee is doing the work rather than the open rental market.

A real bargain can absolutely produce 7% or even 8% gross. We would simply want to understand why the market has left that return available.

Vurel's latest citywide asking data sit around 6.5% gross, while the broader neighborhood sample centers around 6%. Those are useful anchors when testing an unusually attractive deal.

For a straightforward income purchase today, we would generally target at least 6% gross on a realistic long-term rent and want a believable path toward roughly 4.5% net. In a prime building with excellent resale liquidity, accepting something closer to 5.5–6% gross can still make sense.

For a peripheral property, awkward unit or weak building, we would want more compensation.

The range is fairly tight: Chiang Mai can realistically give investors around 5.5–6.5% gross rental yield now, with roughly 4–5% net being a much better guide to what an owner may actually keep. A genuine 7% gross deal is attractive. Once the advertised number gets into the 8–10% range, we would investigate the assumptions before getting excited.

Who is the author of this content?

BAMBOOROUTES

A team specialized in real estate investing in APAC countries (Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, etc.).

We are a team of financial experts, legal professionals, developers, and local real estate specialists dedicated to helping people like you avoid mistakes when investing in real estate in a foreign place, particularly in Chiang Mai. If you’d like to learn more about us, you can check our presentation page.