Who is buying Thai condos now?

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Who is actually buying Thai condos now?

Chinese buyers still buy more Thai condos than any other nationality, but the foreign market currently looks much more mixed than it did a few years ago.

The latest half-year data from Thailand's Real Estate Information Center, or REIC, recorded 6,533 condominium transfers to foreigners worth THB28.27 billion. China remained number one by transaction value at THB6.87 billion, followed by Russia at THB3.60 billion and Myanmar at THB2.46 billion. The next positions went to buyers from the US, Taiwan, France, the UK, Germany, Australia and India.

China therefore still leads, but it accounted for only about 24% of all foreign condo spending during the period. Russia was already above 12%, while the three largest nationalities combined represented less than half of foreign transaction value.

That is a very different market from the post-reopening period, when Chinese buyers alone represented close to half of foreign condo activity. Today, who is buying depends heavily on where we look. Bangkok remains particularly important for Chinese and Myanmar buyers, Phuket has become a major Russian market, Chonburi attracts both Chinese and Russian demand, and Indian and Western buyers stand out more once we look at larger and more expensive units.

Are Chinese buyers still dominating Thai condos?

China is still the biggest foreign buyer of Thai condos today, but its old level of dominance has disappeared.

REIC counted 906 transfers to Chinese nationals in Q1 2026, worth THB3.49 billion. Chinese buyers represented about 28% of all foreign units transferred that quarter.

Go back three years and the difference is striking. In the first half of 2023, Chinese nationals accounted for 47% of foreign condo units and 48.3% of foreign transaction value. In the latest half-year figures, their share of foreign spending was only about 24%.

So China has roughly halved its share of foreign transaction value from that earlier post-Covid peak.

The latest decline is also large in absolute terms. Chinese transfer value fell 27.7% year on year in the first half of 2026. Based on REIC's figures, that works out to roughly THB2.6 billion less Chinese condo spending than during the same period a year earlier.

China remains the first nationality developers look at because no other country individually generates as much business. These days, however, losing Chinese buyers no longer means losing half of the foreign market.

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Why are Chinese buyers purchasing fewer Thai condos?

Chinese condo buying in Thailand is falling mainly because fewer buyers can or want to move money into overseas property under current economic and financial conditions.

REIC has repeatedly pointed to China's weaker domestic economy and tighter liquidity as major reasons for the slowdown. Earlier this year, the agency also highlighted tighter controls around capital leaving China and Thailand's increased scrutiny of grey-money structures.

The fall has now lasted long enough to look structural rather than temporary. In Q1 2026, Chinese transfers dropped 38.8% by unit count and 42.9% by value. Across the first half, transaction value was still down 27.7%.

The average Chinese transaction in Q1 was about THB3.9 million for a 39.9-square-metre condo, so the data do not show Chinese buyers suddenly switching en masse to ultra-cheap units. The bigger change is the number of people completing purchases.

China's market share has also fallen dramatically from its 2023 level. That makes the decline hard to dismiss as one weak quarter inside an otherwise unchanged market.

The remaining Chinese demand also appears more concentrated. In REIC's newest half-year breakdown, Chinese nationals spent THB4.43 billion in Bangkok and THB1.15 billion in Chonburi. Those two markets alone absorbed more than 80% of Chinese transaction value.

Are Russians replacing Chinese condo buyers in Thailand?

Russian buyers are filling a meaningful part of the gap left by China, especially in Phuket and Chonburi, but they are still nowhere near large enough to replace China nationwide.

Russian condo transfer value jumped 75.9% year on year to THB3.60 billion in the first half of 2026. China still generated THB6.87 billion, so Russian spending had reached roughly 52% of the Chinese total.

The trajectory is unusually strong. In Q1 alone, Russian purchases increased 33% by number of units while their value jumped 68.7%. Russians were buying more condos and spending considerably more per transaction at the same time.

Using the half-year growth rate, Russian spending increased by roughly THB1.55 billion from the previous year. That recovers a large chunk of the approximately THB2.63 billion lost from Chinese buyers.

The geography is the catch. Russian money is heavily tilted toward resort markets, while Chinese demand remains much more important in Bangkok.

Russia is replacing part of Chinese demand where the two groups overlap. In Phuket, it is also building a much stronger market of its own.

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How Russian has Phuket's condo market become?

Russian buyers have become one of the biggest forces in Phuket condos, and the latest numbers show that this is far more than a visibility effect caused by Russian tourists.

REIC's newest half-year breakdown recorded THB2.13 billion of Russian condo transfers in Phuket. Another THB1.14 billion went into Chonburi.

That means about 59% of all Russian condo spending nationwide went into Phuket alone, while Phuket and Chonburi together absorbed roughly 91%.

The timing lines up with what is happening locally. In Q1, Phuket posted the strongest growth in foreign condo transfer value among the major markets, up 34.9% year on year. Russian spending nationally was rising 68.7% during the same quarter.

We should be careful with one claim: the available REIC data do not show that Russians make up a majority of every foreign condo transaction in Phuket. What the figures show very clearly is concentration. More than half of Russian condo money is now going into a single province.

For a Phuket developer, broker or owner, Russia has become a core source of demand. The national ranking understates how important Russian buyers feel on the ground there.

Did Myanmar buyers disappear from the Thai condo market?

Myanmar buyers have cooled sharply from their extraordinary buying surge, but they are still the third-largest foreign buyer group in Thailand and remain extremely important in Bangkok.

Myanmar had briefly become one of the biggest stories in Thai property. During 2024 and parts of 2025, transfers rose extremely quickly as wealthy Myanmar households moved money and, in some cases, family members into Thailand amid political, economic and security instability at home.

That pace was unlikely to continue indefinitely. In Q1 2026, Myanmar purchases fell to 279 units, down 36.4%, while transaction value dropped 39% to THB968 million.

The half-year decline was milder. Myanmar buyers transferred THB2.46 billion of condos, down 16.2% year on year.

What keeps Myanmar highly relevant is Bangkok. REIC's latest geographic breakdown shows THB2.26 billion of that THB2.46 billion going into the capital. That is roughly 92% of all Myanmar condo spending.

Myanmar now looks less like a new nationwide foreign-buyer wave and more like a very large, concentrated Bangkok buyer group.

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Is Thailand's foreign condo market really becoming more diverse?

Yes. The strongest evidence of diversification is that buyers outside China, Russia and Myanmar collectively increased their spending even while the overall foreign condo market shrank.

We calculated this directly from REIC's half-year figures.

Foreign buyers spent THB28.27 billion in total. China, Russia and Myanmar contributed THB12.93 billion between them, leaving approximately THB15.33 billion from every other nationality combined.

Using REIC's year-on-year changes, we can reconstruct the same groups one year earlier. China, Russia and Myanmar together accounted for roughly THB14.49 billion then, while total foreign spending was THB28.71 billion. The rest of the market therefore contributed about THB14.22 billion.

So spending from nationalities outside the top three rose by approximately 7.8%, from THB14.22 billion to THB15.33 billion.

That is a useful result because the headline market declined 1.5%. The contraction was concentrated in a few large buyer groups rather than spread evenly across foreign demand.

The latest REIC ranking also stretches well beyond the usual China-Russia-Myanmar story. After the top three came the US, Taiwan, France, the UK, Germany, Australia and India.

Which smaller foreign buyer groups matter now?

American, French, British, German, Taiwanese, Australian and Indian buyers collectively matter much more than their individual rankings suggest.

The detailed Q1 data make this easy to see. France recorded 155 transfers, the UK 148, the US 138 and Germany 135. Those four countries alone produced 576 transactions.

Russia, the second-largest individual nationality, recorded 383.

Taiwan added another 136 units, Australia 83 and India 63. Some were growing quickly: Indian transfers increased 40%, Australian transfers 36.1%, Russian transfers 33%, German transfers 17.4% and British transfers 13%.

This mixed group becomes even more interesting at the top end of Bangkok. CBRE reported recently that foreigners represented 32% of buyers in its downtown Bangkok condo transactions during the first half of 2026, compared with an average of 18% over the previous five years.

CBRE's leading foreign nationalities in super-luxury condos included Japanese, British, Taiwanese and Russian buyers. That buyer mix looks quite different from the nationwide REIC ranking.

There is no useful single profile of the “other foreign buyer.” The long tail now includes Asian owner-occupiers, European retirees and expatriates, US buyers, resort purchasers and wealthy buyers targeting Bangkok's luxury market.

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Are Indians becoming important buyers of Thai condos?

Indian buyers are still small in number, but they currently stand out more than almost any other nationality once we look at what they actually buy.

REIC recorded only 63 Indian condo transfers in Q1 2026. That put India far below China, Russia or Myanmar by volume.

Yet Indian buyers had the highest average transaction value among the ten leading foreign nationalities, at THB5.6 million per unit. They also bought by far the largest condos, averaging 67.8 square metres.

The average foreign buyer purchased 43.7 square metres. A typical Indian transaction was therefore about 55% larger.

For comparison, Chinese buyers averaged 39.9 square metres. Russian buyers averaged about 42 square metres. Myanmar buyers were close to 33 square metres.

Indian transaction numbers also grew 40% year on year in Q1, the fastest increase among the major nationalities in REIC's detailed ranking.

India is unlikely to replace Chinese mass demand soon because the volumes remain too small. Its importance is at a different end of the market: larger units, higher tickets and buyers who look more like family or residential purchasers than the classic small-unit overseas investor.

What kind of condos are foreigners actually buying in Thailand?

Foreign condo buyers currently average about THB4.2 million per purchase and 43.7 square metres, but nationality changes the answer dramatically.

The detailed REIC figures show a broad range. Indian buyers averaged 67.8 square metres and THB5.6 million. Americans averaged around 54 square metres and THB5 million. Australians also averaged roughly 55 square metres and THB4.6 million.

Chinese buyers sat below the foreign average in size, at 39.9 square metres and THB3.9 million. Myanmar buyers went smaller still at roughly 33 square metres and THB3.5 million.

Russia fell much closer to the middle, with an average transaction around THB4.3 million and roughly 42 square metres.

That spread is why phrases such as “foreign investor condo” can be misleading. A 33-square-metre Bangkok unit aimed at Myanmar buyers and a 68-square-metre home aimed at an Indian family belong to completely different product categories, even though both appear in the same foreign-transfer statistics.

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Where are foreigners buying Thai condos now?

Foreign condo buying is currently concentrated in three very different markets: Bangkok gets the most money, Chonburi gets huge transaction volume, and Phuket is where Russian and higher-value resort demand is growing fastest.

In Q1 2026, Bangkok accounted for THB6.14 billion of foreign condo transfers, or 45.6% of the national foreign total.

Chonburi led by number of units instead. Its 1,167 foreign transfers represented 36% of all foreign units nationwide.

That difference is important. Bangkok attracts more expensive transactions, while Pattaya and the wider Chonburi market move enormous numbers of units.

Phuket is smaller in volume but currently much more dynamic at the expensive end. Foreign condo transfer value there rose 34.9% year on year in Q1. The newer half-year figures show why Russian buyers are a big part of that story: THB2.13 billion of Russian condo money went into Phuket.

Nationality also divides these markets quite neatly. Chinese buyers spent THB4.43 billion in Bangkok and THB1.15 billion in Chonburi during the first half. Myanmar buyers put about THB2.26 billion into Bangkok. Russian buyers concentrated THB2.13 billion in Phuket and THB1.14 billion in Chonburi.

Anyone asking where “foreigners” buy condos in Thailand is therefore combining several markets that increasingly behave differently.

Are foreigners actually important to Thailand's condo market?

Foreigners remain a minority of Thai condo buyers, but they spend enough money that their importance is much larger than their transaction count suggests.

REIC's Q1 figures put foreigners at 13.6% of all condo transfers by number of units. Their share of transaction value was 23.9%.

Put simply, around one in seven condos transferred went to a foreigner, while almost one in four baht of condo transaction value came from foreign buyers.

That gap explains why developers pay so much attention to overseas demand. Foreigners tend to be disproportionately present in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and higher-value projects rather than being evenly spread across Thailand's housing stock.

The effect becomes even stronger in selected segments. CBRE's first-half data showed foreigners representing 32% of buyers in its downtown Bangkok condo transactions, well above the firm's five-year average of 18%.

Foreign demand therefore matters far more to a Phuket luxury development or a downtown Bangkok branded residence than it does to the average Thai housing project.

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Are foreigners buying more Thai condos now?

Foreigners are buying fewer Thai condos overall right now, although the amount of money leaving the market is surprisingly small.

REIC recorded 6,533 foreign transfers in the first half of 2026, down 8.8% year on year. Their combined value slipped only 1.5% to THB28.27 billion.

Units falling almost 9% while spending falls just 1.5% tells us that the average transaction has become more expensive.

The quarterly direction also improved after a weak start. Q1 recorded 3,241 foreign transfers worth THB13.46 billion. Subtracting that from the half-year total gives roughly 3,292 transfers worth THB14.80 billion in Q2.

So foreign buyers completed slightly more transactions in Q2 than in Q1, and the value of those transactions was roughly 10% higher.

It is not a new boom. Half-year volumes are still below last year. But the latest quarter does suggest that the very sharp Q1 contraction did not continue at the same pace.

The buyer mix helps explain the resilience in value. Russian spending is rising quickly, Indians buy unusually large units, several Western groups buy above-average unit sizes, and the high-end Bangkok market is seeing more international buyers.

Has the typical foreign condo buyer in Thailand changed?

Yes. The typical foreign condo buyer is much harder to describe today because nationality, location, budget and reason for buying have split into several distinct patterns.

A few years ago, the easiest shorthand was a Chinese buyer purchasing a relatively compact investment condo. Chinese buyers are still the largest group, so that profile has certainly not vanished.

But it now sits alongside several other sizeable markets.

Russian buyers put roughly 91% of their condo spending into Phuket and Chonburi. Myanmar buyers direct roughly 92% of theirs to Bangkok. Indian buyers purchase condos about 55% larger than the foreign average. Western nationalities collectively generate hundreds of transactions each quarter. Downtown Bangkok's luxury market currently has a foreign-buyer share far above its recent five-year norm.

That changes what developers can sell and where they can sell it. Phuket can increasingly target Russian lifestyle demand. Bangkok has Chinese, Myanmar, Japanese, Taiwanese and Western segments operating at different price points. Chonburi benefits from both Chinese and Russian scale. Larger apartments have a much clearer audience among Indian and some Western buyers.

The foreign condo market has become more segmented, and treating all overseas customers as one buyer type now hides more than it explains.

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So who is buying Thai condos now?

Chinese buyers are still number one, Russians are the fastest-rising major group, Myanmar remains a large Bangkok buyer, Indians stand out for large and expensive units, and the rest of the foreign market has quietly become the biggest group of all when combined.

The latest REIC numbers make that conclusion unusually clear.

China contributed THB6.87 billion of the THB28.27 billion spent by foreign condo buyers in the first half of 2026, or about 24%. Russia contributed THB3.60 billion after growing 75.9%. Myanmar added THB2.46 billion. Every other nationality combined contributed roughly THB15.33 billion, more than China, Russia and Myanmar put together.

Location then changes the picture again. Bangkok remains the biggest pool of foreign money and is especially important for Chinese and Myanmar buyers. Russians have become a major force in Phuket and Chonburi. Chonburi continues to move enormous numbers of foreign-owned units, while Phuket is capturing much stronger high-value resort demand.

The clearest answer today is broader than “Chinese buyers.” China still leads, but Thailand's foreign condo market is moving toward a much more fragmented mix of Chinese, Russian, Southeast Asian, Indian and Western demand.

Russia is producing the most dramatic growth. China still provides the most money from a single nationality. Myanmar remains remarkably important in Bangkok. India is becoming interesting at the larger-unit end. And the quieter story underneath all of them is that buyers outside the top three increased their combined spending by roughly 8% even while the overall foreign market declined.

That diversification is now the defining feature of who is buying Thai condos.

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Fact-checked and reviewed by our local expert

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Attaya Suriyawonghae 🇹🇭

Real Estate Broker, Zest Real Estate

As a Thai Real Estate Broker based in Phuket, Attaya possesses deep knowledge of the Thai market. Her insider perspective and local connections provide invaluable insights for property investors who want to make their dream come true in the Land of Smiles. Speaking with her allowed us to go back to the blog post, improve a few elements, and include her personal insights for a richer experience.

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 Thailand. If you’d like to learn more about us, you can check our presentation page.