What Owning a Phuket Condo Actually Costs

The true cost of owning a condo in Phuket, beyond the purchase price, is $3,700-$13,500 per year depending on unit size, location, and whether you operate short-term or long-term rentals. For investment properties, rental income typically covers all running costs and generates positive net cash flow. For lifestyle/holiday use only, you’re looking at a net holding cost similar to a quality hotel stay per week, with the upside of ownership.

Purchase Costs Explained

Sinking Fund

A one-time, non-refundable payment to the building’s maintenance reserve fund. Rate: 500-700 THB/sqm.

This is not wasted money, it pays for the major capital expenditures that keep the building in excellent condition (roof, elevator, structural maintenance). A building with a well-funded sinking fund is more valuable long-term than one that defers maintenance.

Furnishing Investment

Furnishing quality directly impacts rental yield. For short-term rental in Phuket, photography is everything, the photos on Airbnb and Agoda determine whether guests click through and book.

Minimum investment for rental-quality furnishing:

Studio: $4,000-$7,000 (full kit: bed, sofa, table, kitchen, A/C accessories, décor)
1-bed: $6,000-$12,000
2-bed: $10,000-$20,000

Cheap furnishing costs you in nightly rate and reviews. A $180/night unit with premium furnishing outperforms a $120/night unit with budget furnishing in total annual revenue.

Annual Common Area Maintenance (CAM)

Range: 50-120 THB/sqm/month

What drives your specific rate:

More amenities (multiple pools, gym, co-working, restaurant) = higher CAM
More building staff (24/7 security, concierge) = higher CAM
Building age and energy efficiency = lower or higher CAM

Important: CAM increases annually at roughly 3-5% per year as electricity and labor costs rise. Don’t lock in today’s number as a fixed cost in long-range projections.

Management Fees: Short-Term vs. Long-Term Rental

Short-Term Rental (Nightly / Holiday)

Management fee: 20-30% of gross rental revenue

What you get:

Listing creation and pricing across Airbnb, Agoda, Booking.com and direct channels
Guest communication, check-in and check-out, and problem-solving at midnight
Cleaning and linen between every stay
Maintenance response, restocking and inventory control
Owner statements and remittance

This is the single largest ongoing cost of a short-let condo, and it buys real work: a nightly-let unit turns over forty to sixty times a year, and each turnover is a cleaning, a check-in and a review at stake. Self-managing is possible if you live here and want the job. Doing it badly from another time zone costs more in lost reviews than the fee would have.

Who bears OTA commission: Usually 3-15% platform commission is deducted from gross booking value before the management company applies its percentage. Clarify whether the management fee is applied to gross booking value (before OTA commission) or net (after). This makes a significant difference.

Long-Term Rental (Expat / Monthly)

Management fee: 8-15% of monthly rental income

What you get:

Tenant sourcing and vetting
Lease agreement drafting
Rent collection and remittance
Maintenance coordination

Long-term rental management is significantly simpler and cheaper. The trade-off: lower gross income but lower management cost and zero guest turnover.

Electricity: The Real Cost Driver

Condo electricity benchmarks:

Studio (1 AC unit, used 8h/day): 1,500-2,500 THB/month = $504-$840/year
1-bed (2 AC units): 2,500-4,500 THB/month = $840-$1,512/year
2-bed (3 AC units): 3,500-6,000 THB/month = $1,176-$2,016/year

When renting short-term: Guests pay electricity directly in most managed programs (metered separately or included in a utility allowance). This significantly reduces your electricity cost as owner.

When renting long-term: Electricity is typically the tenant’s responsibility, they pay their actual usage directly to the management office.

For personal use only: Your electricity cost is real and ongoing. Budget accordingly.

What If You’re Not Renting?

Size	Annual Cost (no rental)	Weekly equivalent
Studio	$1,731-$3,008	$33-$58/week
1-bed	$2,705-$4,925	$52-$95/week
2-bed	$4,136-$7,958	$80-$153/week

Compare this to equivalent hotel or serviced apartment costs of $100-$400/week in the same areas. Owning is economically superior for anyone spending 4+ weeks in Phuket per year.

Pros and Cons: Condo Ownership Cost in Phuket

Pros:

No meaningful annual property tax on most residential units, unlike almost every Western market
Rental income covers the full running cost on most well-located investment units, with net left over
Costs are largely predictable and published: CAM is a rate per sqm, the sinking fund is a rate per sqm, both knowable before you buy
Almost everything expensive, electricity above all, passes to the guest or tenant when the unit is let
Against $100-$400 a week for an equivalent hotel or serviced apartment, ownership wins for anyone spending four or more weeks a year here

Cons:

Management fees (20-30% for short-term) reduce gross yield significantly
CAM escalation is a real ongoing cost
Furnishing investment required upfront for rental-quality presentation
Electricity for personal use is high due to AC requirements

What are red flags when budgeting condo ownership costs?

CAM quoted without a juristic person letter: marketing brochures show 50 THB/sqm; the registered rate at transfer may be 95 THB/sqm. Ask for the current schedule and last 2 years of AGM minutes.
Sinking fund not itemised in SPA: if the developer “includes” sinking fund but does not show the rate per sqm, you may pay again at handover.
Management fee on gross before OTA commission: a 22% fee on gross booking value when Agoda takes 15% first can erase 30%+ of headline yield. Get a sample month statement.
No separate electricity meter for short-term: owner pays guest AC in many older buildings; budget 3,000-6,000 THB/month in low season if unmetered.
Special assessment backlog: pool retile, lift modernisation, or facade works can trigger 200,000-800,000 THB levies per unit in older resorts. Read AGM resolutions.
Insurance gap: building policy may not cover your interior, theft, or guest liability. Budget 8,000-15,000 THB/year for contents plus public liability if self-managing.

Checklist before you model net yield:

Written CAM rate + 3-year history from juristic person
Sinking fund amount in SPA (500-700 THB/sqm typical)
Management contract sample with OTA fee order
Meter type for electricity and water
LBT assessment letter (often under 2,000 THB/year for condos)
Furnishing quote with rental-grade photography allowance

Cross-check purchase-side fees in our hidden costs buying guide and annual stack in annual ownership costs Thailand.

Buyer scenarios: who should budget which cost profile?

Scenario A: Pure investor, no personal use: The unit works all year and every cost is a business cost. Budget the full stack, CAM, sinking fund at purchase, insurance, a maintenance reserve, and 20-30% of gross to an operator, then model net rather than gross. On a 50 sqm 1-bed generating $15,000 gross, running costs land around $5,600-$7,000, leaving $8,000-$9,700 net. The line to watch is the management fee: whether it is charged on gross booking value or after OTA commission changes that net figure by thousands.

Scenario B: Lifestyle owner, 8-12 weeks personal use: Electricity and occasional deep cleans are yours. Skip short-term management in personal weeks; use long-term tenant or seasonal operator only for vacant months. Holding cost often lands at $2,800-$4,500/year for a 50 sqm unit, still below equivalent hotel spend.

Scenario C: Retirement base, minimal rental: Prioritise low-CAM buildings with stable juristic management over amenity-heavy resorts. A $120,000 Kata or Chalong 1-bed with CAM at 55 THB/sqm and no rental program can run under $2,500/year excluding personal electricity.

Scenario D: Off-plan buyer comparing projects: Add furnishing (฿400K-฿900K for 1-bed rental kit) and 12 months of CAM before first guest night. Developers who bundle “rental ready” packages still rarely include photography, linens, and kitchenware to professional standard, budget $6,000-$12,000 on top.

Land and Building Tax (LBT) in practice for condos

The baseline first: Thailand’s Land and Building Tax applies to condominium units at residential rates, and for the great majority of Phuket units the annual assessment is small, frequently under 2,000 THB a year. Residential property below the statutory threshold attracts an exemption, which is why most owners here reasonably describe the cost as negligible. It is not the same thing as zero, and the assessment letter is worth reading rather than assuming.

Commercial use (daily rental in some juristic interpretations) can change classification. If your juristic person registers short-term activity, confirm LBT band with them before you assume “zero tax.” Penalties for misclassification are rare on small units but worth clarifying in writing.

Furnishing depreciation and replacement cycle

Item	Initial cost (1-bed)	Replacement cycle
Mattress set	$400-$800	3 years
Sofa / dining	$800-$1,500	4-5 years
AC units (2)	$1,200-$2,000	7-10 years
Linens / kitchen pack	$300-$600	18-24 months

Budget $800-$1,500/year maintenance reserve for an actively rented 1-bedroom. Studios scale down; 2-beds with premium finishes scale up toward $2,000/year.

The costs owners most often forget

Four lines fall out of almost every first budget, and together they are worth more than the difference between a good building and an average one.

Vacancy between tenants. A long-let unit is empty for some weeks between tenancies, and a short-let unit has low-season months where the calendar simply does not fill. During those periods CAM, insurance and the standing electricity charge continue. Build a vacancy allowance of around 15% into the model rather than assuming twelve paid months.

Special assessments. Separate from CAM and from the sinking fund, a building can levy a one-off charge on owners for major works: a lift modernisation, a facade repair, retiling a pool. In older resort buildings these run from 200,000 to 800,000 THB per unit. They are voted at the annual general meeting, which is why reading the last two years of AGM minutes before purchase matters more than comparing CAM rates.

Getting the money out. Rental income earned in Thailand is taxable in Thailand, and repatriating it means bank charges and an exchange spread on every transfer. Neither is large individually; both are permanent, and neither appears in a yield calculation.

The gap year at handover. A newly completed unit does not start earning on transfer day. Furnishing, photography, listing setup and the first reviews take months, and a listing with no booking history ranks below its neighbours until it has one. Assume the first year underperforms the model, and price the first season to build reviews rather than to hit a rate.

Insider tip: read the management statement, not the brochure yield

Insider tip: Request the juristic or operator P&L for a sister unit, not the developer yield slide. Underwrite 7 to 9% gross, which after operator fees near 20 to 25% of revenue and common charges lands around 4.5 to 6.8% net on typical entry pricing ($80k to $200k), with CAM near ฿30 to ฿45 per sqm monthly. Managed one-bedroom stock in 2024 ran 72 to 78% blended occupancy under professional operators.

Decision framework: buy, hold, or pass

Run the numbers in this order. Most buying mistakes here come from doing it in the reverse order, starting with the headline yield and working backwards to justify it.

1. Establish the fixed annual carry before any rental assumption. CAM at the registered rate, not the brochure rate, plus insurance, plus a maintenance reserve, plus land and building tax. This is what the unit costs you in a year when it earns nothing. If that number alone makes you uncomfortable, the rest of the analysis does not matter.

2. Add the one-time costs to the purchase price. The sinking fund at 500-700 THB/sqm, transfer fees and taxes, and furnishing to rental standard, which is $4,000 to $20,000 depending on size and is not optional if you intend to let. Your real entry price is the sum, not the price list figure.

3. Only now model income, and model it net. Take a conservative occupancy, subtract the operator’s share on the correct basis, subtract OTA commission if it is charged before the fee, subtract the fixed carry from step one. Compare the result to the capital in step two. That percentage is your actual return; the number on the brochure is not.

4. Stress it. Rerun at 40% low-season occupancy, with CAM 20% higher than today, and with one $3,000 unplanned repair. A purchase that only works on the base case is not an investment, it is a bet on nothing going wrong.

Buy when step three clears your required return with the stress test applied, or when you will personally use the unit enough that the holding cost compares favourably to hotels. Hold and reconsider when the numbers work only on optimistic occupancy, because that usually means paying too much rather than the wrong building. Pass when the juristic office cannot produce a CAM history, when the sinking fund balance is unknown, or when nobody will show you a real operator statement from a comparable unit. Missing documents are the cheapest reason to walk away you will ever get.

Looking for the right property in Phuket?

Our experts send a shortlist within 2 hours. 0% buyer commission.

Get Your Phuket Shortlist WhatsApp

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the annual running costs for a condo in Phuket?

For a 50 sqm 1-bedroom condo: CAM $1,260-$1,680/year, insurance $200-$400, electricity $840-$2,000, LBT ~$45, maintenance reserve $300-$800. Total without management: $2,645-$4,925/year. Add management fees if renting (22% of gross revenue = $2,500-$5,000/year for a quality 1-bed).

How much is the management fee for a Phuket condo rental?

Short-term rental management fees range from 20-30% of gross rental revenue. Long-term rental management is 8-15% of monthly rent. For a $180,000 condo generating $15,000 gross annually, short-term management at 22% = $3,300/year. This is the single largest ongoing cost after CAM.

Can rental income cover the running costs of a Phuket condo?

Yes, for most well-located investment condos. A $180,000 Bang Tao 1-bed generating 8.5% gross ($15,300) covers all running costs ($5,600-$7,000) with net income of $8,000-$9,700 remaining. Entry-level condos in Rawai on long-term leases also run cost-positive with minimal management overhead.

What is the common area maintenance fee in Phuket?

CAM fees range from 50-120 THB per sqm per month. For a 50 sqm unit: 2,500-6,000 THB/month, or $840-$2,016 annually. Premium resort-style developments charge the higher end but provide significantly better facilities that support higher nightly rates.

Do I have to pay for electricity for my Phuket condo?

If renting short-term with a managed program, electricity is typically the guest's cost (metered and charged separately). For long-term leases, tenants pay electricity directly. For personal use only, electricity is your cost, budget $840-$2,000/year for a 1-bed with normal AC usage.

What is the sinking fund for a Phuket condo?

The sinking fund is a one-time payment of 500-700 THB per sqm, paid at transfer. It's non-refundable and funds major future building maintenance (roof, elevator, infrastructure). For a 50 sqm unit: 25,000-35,000 THB ($700-$980). It's a legal requirement at transfer, not optional.

Read Also: