Every Phuket listing quotes a yield, and almost none of them show the arithmetic. Here is what the figure is built from, and where the published numbers quietly overstate it.
The realistic band
Resort property on Phuket returns roughly 5–8% gross per year from rental. Some developers guarantee a fixed return — commonly up to 4% — for the first years after handover. A guaranteed 4% and a projected 8% are not comparable numbers: the first is contractual and lower, the second is a forecast that assumes occupancy you have not yet achieved.
What gross yield leaves out
- Management fee — 20–35% of rental revenue if the unit is in a hotel-managed rental pool.
- Common area fee — 25–100 THB per m² per month, payable whether or not the unit is let.
- Sinking fund — 300–800 THB per m², charged once at handover.
- Seasonality — high season runs roughly November to April. An annual figure built on peak-season nightly rates is not an annual figure.
Net of these, a headline 8% gross typically lands nearer 4.5–5.5% net.
Entry price decides more than the rate
Because yield is rent divided by price, the purchase price does most of the work. In our catalogue the entry point differs almost fourfold by area: Rawai from 4.05M THB, Bang Tao from 5.5M, Layan from 15.64M. Yet the median price per square metre in Rawai (139,951 THB) and Bang Tao (137,494 THB) is nearly identical — so the cheaper entry in Rawai comes from smaller units, not from a discount per metre.
For rental, small units win on yield: a 35–55 m² studio at 4.05–8.5M THB rents at a far higher rate per square metre than a 144 m² two-bedroom, and is easier to keep occupied out of season.
Buying off-plan changes the calculation
Purchase during construction and the price you divide by is the launch price, not the completion price. On Phuket that difference has historically run 15–25% by handover — which is capital growth, not yield, but it is the reason off-plan investors report better returns than the rental math alone would suggest.
Questions worth asking the developer
Is the guaranteed return contractual and for how many years? What is the management split? Are common fees payable during the guarantee period? What was actual occupancy last year in the operator's other Phuket properties? A developer who cannot answer the last one is quoting you a forecast, not a track record.
Compare entry prices across projects in the catalogue, or read the investment overview.