JLL Names Phuket a Global Resort Destination, and the Wellness Buyer Is Already Here.
JLL, one of the world’s largest real estate advisers, has named Phuket a global resort destination in its new Southeast Asia report. It singles out the island for investment in hotels, retail, top-end homes and wellness. For Phuket property investment, that is a clear signal of where serious money is looking. It also matches what I have seen on the ground for a few years: more people coming here for their health, and the branded residences building around them.
What JLL said
The report is called Planning for a Multipolar World: Real Estate Strategies Across Southeast Asia in 2026 and Beyond. The Nation covered it on 11 October. Its argument is that growth in the region is spreading out from a few big cities into economic corridors, industrial towns and tourism destinations.
JLL’s Thai picture has two parts. The Eastern Economic Corridor, the industrial region east of Bangkok, is the manufacturing and logistics story. Phuket and Phang Nga, on the Andaman coast, are the tourism story. JLL lists hotels and resorts, retail, what it calls ultra-luxury housing, and wellness projects. The wellness buyers it has in mind have money to spend, and include long-stay visitors and people who want to live in a resort destination.
Two further points matter for anyone buying here. Projects that reflect a place’s own character may compete better than the same product built in several markets. And tourism property carries risks: visitor numbers change, building costs change, new supply arrives, and buyers’ budgets differ.
What it signals for Phuket property investment
This report is about where JLL expects Southeast Asia’s next phase of growth to come from. Phuket is on that list by name, with Phang Nga beside it. The report gives no figures for the island. What it gives is direction.
That direction matters to anyone buying a home here. The sectors JLL names are hotels, retail and wellness, which are the things a person living on Phuket uses every week. Where investment follows into those, the island gets better to live on, and that is what a long-stay buyer is paying for.
The wellness buyer is already here
This is the part of the report I can confirm from the ground. Over the last few years I have noticed far more people coming to Phuket for their health. It is not only the buyers I speak to. It comes up with people I meet through networking, and with people I get talking to in the sauna.
Some come for a month or two of treatment, training and rest. Others are moving here full time to make it their routine. They come from Singapore, Hong Kong, across Europe and from America.
That matters for property because a stay measured in months needs a home, not a hotel room for a week. Someone spending part of each year here on their health is choosing where they will live day to day. Quiet, space and the drive to the places they will use start to count for more than they would on a holiday.
Branded residences are building wellness in
For this buyer, the branded residences are where Phuket is furthest ahead. The hotel brand brings the facilities a long stay needs, and the owner lives beside them rather than booking them as a guest.
Anantara’s residences in Layan sit next to the Anantara resort, and its facilities are some of the best I have seen on the island. I have written about Minor’s branded residences before. Banyan Tree’s newest, Nerea, is six duplexes between the Laguna lagoons and Bang Tao beach. Its launch last month listed a private exercise room in each residence, use of Laguna Phuket’s spas, and medical and wellness benefits through the Laguna owners’ programme.
Tri Vananda goes furthest. It is a forest and lake community from the Montara group, and Clinique La Prairie is building its first Southeast Asian health resort there, I spoke with the Sales Director last week and he confirmed the clinic opens in November this year. That puts a medical wellness clinic inside the estate where people live.
This matters because someone here for months on their health wants the clinic, the spa and the gym close to home, not a drive away. It also gives these properties a draw that a standard villa does not have.
Phang Nga is a different trip
JLL puts Phang Nga next to Phuket for its coastal growth potential. I have driven up there but never stayed, so treat this as an outsider’s read. The food is excellent, the nature is remarkable, the beaches are good, and it is quieter.
To me it sits with Krabi and Koh Samui: a different kind of trip rather than a substitute for Phuket. It is mainland, and today it does not offer what Phuket offers. If you could get the same wellness experience and the same places to eat for less money, it would be competition. People tend to pay for what they want, though, and the airport planned for Phang Nga, which would change the access, is still a long way off.
Character beats copies
The line in the report I would underline is the one about character. A property that could sit in any resort town competes with every version of itself, including the ones still to be finished. I set out how much is due to complete in my Q3 market update.
So the question for a buyer is what a property has that others cannot copy: its position, its beach, a view that cannot be built out.
What it means for a buyer
Use the report as a direction. It shows which way the island’s investment is moving: wellness, hotel-run and long-stay. A purchase still rests on the property’s own evidence: what comparable homes nearby sell and rent for.
If you are coming for your health, buy for the months you will live here. Visit in the season you plan to stay. Drive to the places you will use every day, at the hour you would use them.
Ask what is being built around you. JLL lists new supply as a risk. Find out what is approved or under construction nearby before you commit.
What it means for an owner
The interest JLL describes is aimed at hotels, wellness and the top of the market. Owners whose property suits that buyer are best placed. If your villa suits someone spending months here on their health, the listing should say who it is for and why: the quiet, the space, the routine it allows.
If your property is one of many similar ones, the buyer has choices. Price and presentation then carry more of the weight.
The read
JLL has named Phuket a global resort destination and pointed investors at hotels, wellness and long-stay living. The long-stay wellness buyer it describes is one I have been meeting for a few years, and the branded residences are already building for them. Phang Nga, for now, is a different trip. What the report rewards is property with its own character, matched to the buyer it suits.
Buying or selling in Phuket? Message me on WhatsApp: +66 93 760 8561
Source: The Nation Thailand, EEC and tourism destinations attract property investment in Thailand, 11 October 2026, reporting JLL’s Planning for a Multipolar World: Real Estate Strategies Across Southeast Asia in 2026 and Beyond. The report’s points are as reported by The Nation; it gives no figures for Phuket. Banyan Group Residences, Nerea launch release, 29 September 2026. Tri Vananda and Clinique La Prairie, partnership announcement reported by The Grid Asia, 7 October 2024, and Tri Vananda release, 30 September 2025; the health resort’s opening date is as announced. The observations on wellness visitors, Anantara’s facilities and Phang Nga are my own, not market data.
Rex Butler, Managing Director, Butler Estates. This is general market commentary, not legal, tax or investment advice.