Yes — but not everything, and not in every form. Thai law separates what a foreigner may own outright from what can only be held on a long lease, and the distinction decides which units in a project are actually available to you.
What you can own outright
A foreigner can hold a condominium unit in freehold, in their own name, with no time limit. The unit can be sold, gifted or inherited. The only cap is at building level: no more than 49% of a condominium's total saleable floor area may be foreign-owned. Once that quota is used, remaining units go to foreigners as leasehold.
What you cannot own
Land. A foreign individual cannot own land in Thailand. That is why a pool villa is never sold to a foreigner in the same way a condo is — the house may be yours, but the plot underneath is held another way.
The three routes for villas
- Leasehold — a registered 30-year lease, typically written with two renewals (30+30+30). Registered at the Land Office, so it survives a change of owner. The most common route and the one used in most Phuket villa projects.
- Thai company — the land is held by a Thai limited company in which you hold shares. Legitimate when the company genuinely trades; nominee structures set up purely to hold land are not, and are the single most common way buyers get into trouble.
- Thai spouse — land registered to a Thai spouse, with a declaration that the funds were theirs. Simple on paper, but you are not on the title.
The money has to arrive from abroad
For a freehold condo the Land Office requires proof that the purchase funds entered Thailand from overseas in foreign currency — a Foreign Exchange Transaction form (FET) issued by the receiving Thai bank. Transfer the full amount in one go where possible and have the bank name you as the remitter; funds sent in small tranches or from a third party routinely cause delays at registration.
Does buying give you a visa?
Not automatically. Property ownership is not in itself a route to residency. Since late 2025 a condo purchase above a threshold can support certain long-stay applications, but the visa is granted on its own criteria — treat any agent who sells you a property "with a visa included" with suspicion.
Documents to demand before you pay anything
Chanote (the land title deed), construction permit, EIA environmental approval, and the developer's DBD company registration. For every project in our catalogue these are verified — ask and we send the full set.
Next: the step-by-step buying process, or go straight to available units.