The Phuket Property Market, Q3 2026: The Condos Sold. Now Who Rents Them?
CBRE counted 4,017 condominium sales in Phuket in the first half of 2026, about 10% more than a year earlier. The obvious reading is that the Phuket property market is in good health. The better question is what happens when those condominiums are finished, because 21,671 are scheduled to complete by the end of 2027 and a sold condominium still has to be rented. The published figures stop at June, so this update pairs them with what I saw between July and September.
What the Phuket property market reports said
CBRE published its figures for the first half of 2026 on 20 August.
| First half of 2026 | Sold | Launched |
|---|---|---|
| Condominiums | 4,017 | 4,487 |
| Villas | 233 | 224 |
Every comparison here is with the first half of 2025. Condominium sales were up about 10% and launches were up 20.9%. Villa sales were down 18.5% and launches were down 58%.
Krungsri Research has first-quarter transfers in Phuket up 17.9% on a year earlier, at 2,548 units. It expects the full year to finish below 2025, with launches down 4.2% and sales down 7.3%.
The condominiums are about to complete
CBRE counted 1,196 condominium units completed in the first half of 2026, with many projects delayed. It has 10,233 scheduled for the second half and 11,438 for 2027. That is 21,671 units in 18 months.
Scheduled is the word to watch. On projects selling today, the completion date I am given, time after time, is December 2027 or January 2028. That lines up neatly with Christmas and high season: holidays for owners, and the best rental months for investors. I am wary of a date that suits everyone that well. Some projects will meet it. On CBRE’s count, many projects ran late in the first half of this year. A handover that slips to March has missed the season.
Off-plan sales have held up. The harder test comes when those units are finished and looking for tenants at the same time. CBRE notes that many foreign buyers purchased without visiting, on projected rental returns, and that this will not last if the returns are not delivered.
This is the work I do with buyers. I am not tied to any one developer, so I can put one project’s projection beside another’s, and beside what finished units nearby are renting for. The aim is a net return you have tested before you commit. It is also why I want to work with developers who have a track record of finishing when they said they would.
Who rents them
Most of what completes already has an owner. CBRE’s cumulative sales rate for Phuket condominiums is 71.9%. Buyer demand is holding.
The open question is tenants. The best public indicator is the enquiry data FazWaz presented at the Phuket Property Exchange in June. It recorded 39,042 rental enquiries in six months, 71% of all enquiries on the island. Cherng Talay, which takes in Bang Tao, Laguna and Layan, drew the most, with 6,628.
The median rental budget in that data was ฿35,000 a month. That is an island-wide figure, studios in Patong included, and the data does not break budgets down by area. A buyer in Bang Tao or Layan will be expecting a good deal more. Whether a particular building achieves it is a question for that building’s finished neighbours, not for the island’s median.
Visitors, who fill the short-stay side, are slightly down. The Tourism Authority of Thailand counted 9.2 million visitors to Phuket from January to August, 1.76% fewer than a year earlier. Against that, Virgin Atlantic starts flying Heathrow to Phuket on 18 October. I have written about what the direct London flight means for Phuket property.
The renters are there. No report I have found says how many there are at the rents the projections assume.
Transfers show what sold two years ago
That 17.9% rise in transfers looks like a surge in demand. For an off-plan purchase, though, the transfer is registered when the building completes, so a transfer this year can be a sale made two years ago. Krungsri says the 2025 rise in foreign condominium transfers in Phuket was supported by units pre-sold in 2023 and 2024 reaching handover.
The national figures point both ways. The Real Estate Information Center reported that condominium transfers to foreign buyers across Thailand fell 8.8% in the first half of 2026, to 6,533 units. Russian transfer value went the other way, up 75.9% to ฿3.603 billion, concentrated in Phuket and Chonburi. CBRE, in August, said Russian purchasing is beginning to slow.
Both are true. The transfer figures are the bill arriving for a meal ordered two years ago.
Villas: fewer sales, far fewer launches
CBRE recorded no new luxury villa projects in the first half of 2026, and total villa launches less than half those of a year earlier. Launches tell you what is coming. An owner has fewer new projects opening against a resale. A buyer has unsold villas to choose from and fewer new ones being added.
In my mid-year update I quoted Knight Frank’s count for 2025, which had villa sales rising, and wrote that villas were carrying the market. Krungsri has since published its own count for the same year, and it has villa sales falling 69.6%. The two are closer than that sounds on 2025 itself, at 631 and 475. They part company on 2024, where Knight Frank counted 573 and Krungsri’s figures imply about 1,560. None of the reports sets out which projects it counts, so I cannot tell you which is closer. What all three firms agree on is the fall in new launches.
Krungsri counted 2,043 unsold villas at the end of 2025 and estimates they would take about 50 months to sell at that year’s pace. That is a long way from the 19 months I wrote about in September, which came from AREA’s 2026 survey of all housing types on the island. Neither number is a countdown. Each depends on the sales pace it assumes.
What I saw from July to September
My own quarter was renter heavy, which fits the enquiry data.
Buyers were still here. Many more were researching and gearing up for a visit, and a lot of them told me they are coming between November and January.
Developers were more active in their outreach. I put that down to the green season giving them more time, more than to anything in the sales figures.
More property held in Thai companies came onto the market. Many of the sellers I met were not in a rush. They have made good money on their properties and are not looking for a fire sale.
What it means for a buyer
Test the rental projection against finished buildings. Ask what comparable completed units in the same area rent for today, and how many more will complete nearby before yours does.
On a company-held property, structure comes before price. There is likely some negotiation to be done on the right property. The company structure has to be legitimate first, and that is a question for a Thai lawyer. I can introduce one. I have covered the background in my piece on Thai company villas.
Do the numbers before the visit. If you are coming between November and January, arrive with a shortlist and the questions already asked. Viewing days are better spent checking than starting.
What it means for an owner
You are selling alongside developers with completed stock and a marketing budget. A resale has one advantage a brochure does not. It exists, and a buyer can stand in it.
If your property sits in a Thai company, have the structure reviewed before you list. A buyer’s lawyer will ask about it.
The buyers who told me they are coming arrive from November. Have the property, and the paperwork, ready before they do.
The read
The first half of 2026 was better for condominium sales than for villa sales, and developers launched far fewer villas. Krungsri expects the full year to finish a little below 2025. The real test is still ahead: 21,671 condominiums to finish, and tenants to find for them. The buyers who spent the green season researching tell me they are coming from November.
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Sources: CBRE Thailand, Phuket Overall Figures H1 2026, 20 August 2026. Krungsri Research, Industry Outlook 2026–2028: Housing in Phuket, 28 August 2026. Knight Frank Thailand, Phuket Villa & Condominium Market, Year-End 2025 and 2024. Real Estate Information Center figures as reported by The Nation, 29 August and 11 September 2026. Tourism Authority of Thailand figures as reported by Khaosod English, via The Phuket News, 29 September 2026. FazWaz enquiry data, December 2025 to May 2026, presented at the Phuket Property Exchange and reported by The Thaiger, 13 June 2026. Figures are as reported by each source. Krungsri’s 2024 villa figure is my arithmetic from its published fall. The July to September observations are my own enquiries and conversations, not transaction data.
Rex Butler, Managing Director, Butler Estates. This is general market commentary, not legal, tax or investment advice.