My friend just rented an apartment in Pattaya and the owner of the condo wanted him to think about buying it as well. The price for the condo would be 3.4 million THB and the rent is currently 15 000 THB. The lifespan on a condo or house in Thailand is around 20-30 years and after that they probably take it down or close it down. In Thailand you hardly renovate houses because it is cheaper to build new once and Thai people don’t like to buy old things (that’s also a reason not to buy to sell). Sure you will still own the part of your house but will it cost you more then to pay for fix the house every year.
In his house the floor is empty it is only one apartment that is rented out and on the next floor it is the same. The same thing can be said about the rest of Pattaya, high rise building after building or house village just have empty house waiting for somebody to rent it.
So if you buy this condo instead of paying rent you would have paid 5 million THB in 30 years and almost paid it off in 20 years, if you paid the same amount as rent. The condo would not be yours if you paid rent but do you really want a condo in Pattaya in 30 years?
The way Pattaya is going now is way down and sure the local property broker will tell you that as soon as you buy something it will go up in price. Sure the prices might go up but in reality they don’t, they build new condos in Pattaya every day and most of them are bought up or rented out but not occupied. So there is hardly any market for selling it to a higher price when you have so many empty condos around Pattaya. Why buy second hand when you can buy new one to a better credit?
The people that buy condos in Pattaya have loads of money and they feed of other people renting them in the future. But you buy one apartment and your plan is to live in it not to rent it out. But what will happen if Pattaya still going down this path of violence and drugs do you really want to live here in 30 years?
If you take Stockholm in Sweden for example the price of condos reflects the real need for somewhere to live because they don’t build any new condos in Stockholm. So when you want to sell in let’s say 10 years you know that the price have gone way up because the demand is so great. You will also know that the house will last more than 30 years and that they have city planning. Also the renting market in Stockholm is terrible but in Pattaya you can rent an apartment within seconds and you have a lot of bargain power.
So if you have money to buy a condo or house in every city you visit then go for it but if you not sure about Thailand and planning to just stick around a few years the best plan is probably to rent something because selling the condo later will not be that easy as the broker say. If they tell you and different just take a look at the never ending listings of condos and houses they have listed on their website year after year.
