Phuket’s 2025/26 high season ran from November to April, and this page can no longer tell you what it paid. Four tables sat here reporting occupancy by area, nightly rates by unit type and six-month gross revenue, ending in a full-year model that arrived at 8.9% net on a 250,000 dollar Bang Tao one-bedroom. Every figure in them was invented. Thailand keeps no letting register, no occupancy series is published for Phuket, and MORE Group has not collected one, so there was nothing behind the numbers but the shape of a table.
What follows is what our records do hold for the same 25 areas and 14,322 priced units: the price ladder a buyer is actually choosing between, the cost side that is contractual or statutory, and the single document that answers the income question when a projection cannot.
Why no high-season yield figure exists
A rental yield needs two measured inputs: what the unit earned across a full twelve months, and what it cost. The second half is available. The first is not, and not because it is hard to find.
Thailand has no central record of private letting. There is no register of what a unit was let for, for how many nights, at what rate, not for Phuket, not for Samui, not for Pattaya. No occupancy series is published for the island, and no transaction index covers resort condominiums. Whatever a Phuket unit earns exists in exactly one place: the books of whoever manages it.
That means every occupancy percentage and every nightly rate published as an area average (here or anywhere else) is someone’s estimate presented as a measurement. The honest version of this page reports the absence and then gives what is real.
The price ladder, high season 2026
These are asking prices from our project records, not achieved sale prices. Medians are upper-middle across priced units; the count is how deep the offer actually is in that area, which matters more to a buyer than a headline rate.
| Area | 1BR units | 1BR median (THB) | THB per sqm | Median sqm | 2BR units | 2BR median (THB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bang Tao | 2,914 | 5,930,000 | 155,400 | 39 | 1,213 | 11,737,000 |
| Layan | 786 | 7,919,910 | 144,302 | 54 | 271 | 16,733,752 |
| Kata | 702 | 5,587,000 | 154,792 | 38 | 256 | 8,773,140 |
| Rawai | 627 | 6,652,800 | 144,000 | 46 | 353 | 10,140,000 |
| Kamala | 385 | 7,074,432 | 156,140 | 46 | 188 | 10,217,664 |
| Karon | 248 | 8,930,000 | 194,894 | 47 | 33 | 9,856,000 |
| Patong | 149 | 11,880,000 | 231,864 | 54 | 9 | 15,105,000 |
| Nai Harn | 112 | 7,020,000 | 125,000 | 54 | 30 | 11,700,000 |
| Surin | 35 | 5,430,000 | 152,571 | 38 | 48 | 9,670,000 |
Two things in that table are worth more than any yield band.
Patong is the dearest metre on the island and the thinnest offer. At 231,864 THB per sqm it prices 49% above Bang Tao, on 149 one-bedrooms against Bang Tao’s 2,914, across two apartment schemes against Bang Tao’s 50. The page’s old text called Patong “oversupplied”; on our records it is the opposite: there is almost nothing there to buy, and what there is costs the most.
Karon runs a premium metre on a shallow book. 194,894 THB per sqm, 248 one-bedrooms, six schemes. Kata next door is 154,792 THB per sqm across 702 one-bedrooms in eight schemes. The two are habitually quoted as one market; on price they are not.
Villas
| Area | Villas priced | Median (THB) | 3BR median | 4BR median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bang Tao | 562 | 38,992,000 | 29,900,000 | 45,990,000 |
| Layan | 486 | 34,272,500 | 26,900,000 | 49,874,000 |
| Naithon | 239 | 27,950,000 | 25,900,000 | 44,481,000 |
| Rawai | 81 | 24,800,000 | 23,540,000 | 32,000,000 |
| Nai Harn | 44 | 23,314,077 | 22,795,987 | 29,750,000 |
| Kamala | 41 | 45,784,900 | 38,900,000 | 45,784,900 |
| Karon | 36 | 50,100,000 | , | 53,800,000 |
| Patong | 20 | 28,072,200 | 27,400,000 | 56,900,000 |
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The cost side, which is knowable
The income half of a yield cannot be sourced. The deduction half can, and it is worth pinning before any income assumption means anything.
| Cost | What it is | Where the figure comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Operator share of gross | Customarily 20-35% for nightly letting, less for a twelve-month tenancy | The signed management agreement. Treat any range as assumed until it is quoted to you |
| Common area maintenance | Charged per sqm per month regardless of occupancy | The juristic person’s schedule, in writing |
| Sinking fund | One-off at transfer, then topped up by resolution | The juristic person’s accounts |
| Transfer taxes and fees | Statutory | The Land Department schedule current at transfer |
| Hotel Act licensing | Letting for stays under 30 days engages the licensing regime | The scheme’s own licence position, ask whether it holds one |
Every row there is a document you can be handed. None of them is an estimate. That asymmetry is the reason this page now leads with cost rather than with income.
The document that answers the income question
When a projection cannot be sourced, one thing can: twelve months of month-by-month owner statements from a comparable unit, with the deductions itemised.
That evidence only exists where something is finished, and on our records very little is. 871 of 12,054 priced apartments sit in a completed scheme, 25 of 127 apartment projects. Bang Tao holds 446 of those finished units, Wichit 139, Kathu 71. Kata and Patong hold none at all, so for new stock in either, the statements have to come from a neighbouring building rather than the scheme itself.
Ask for them before high season, not during it. A seller who has them will produce them; a seller who offers a percentage instead is offering the thing this page just withdrew.
Frequently Asked Questions
No figure can be sourced, and the 4.5-6.5% net and 7-9% gross this answer used to give are withdrawn. Thailand keeps no letting register and no occupancy series is published for Phuket, so nobody (us included) has measured what an apartment here earns. The deduction side is real and quotable: the operator's share of gross from the signed management agreement, the common-area rate per sqm from the juristic person, the statutory transfer taxes. Build the income half from twelve months of owner statements on a comparable unit, or treat it as unknown.
The revenue band this answer used to give is withdrawn; the purchase price is on the record. Across 562 priced Bang Tao villas the median is 38,992,000 THB, with three-bedrooms at 29,900,000 and four-bedrooms at 45,990,000. Layan runs 34,272,500 across 486 villas, Naithon 27,950,000 across 239, Rawai 24,800,000 across 81 and Nai Harn 23,314,077 across 44. Karon is the dearest at 50,100,000 on a book of 36.
Almost certainly, and this page still cannot put a number on it. The percentages it used to give, 60-70% of annual revenue in high season, occupancy dropping 35-50 points, rates falling 25-40%, were not measured by anyone. What is verifiable is the calendar: the November to April window is the dry season and the May to October window is the southwest monsoon, and every operator prices the two differently. Ask a manager for a month-by-month statement across a full twelve months and the split will be in it, for that unit.
The 15-25% occupancy uplift this answer used to attribute to branded managers is withdrawn, no one has measured the difference between managers in Phuket, because no one measures Phuket letting at all. What is real is the cost: a branded programme customarily takes 20-35% of gross for nightly letting, written into the agreement you sign, and that share is the same whether the marketing works or not. Compare managers on the contract and on the statements they can show you from units they already run.
Bang Tao, by a wide margin: 2,914 priced one-bedrooms across 50 apartment schemes, at a 5,930,000 THB median and 155,400 THB per sqm. Layan follows with 786, Kata 702 and Rawai 627. Patong is the opposite of the crowded market it is usually described as, 149 one-bedrooms across two schemes, at 231,864 THB per sqm, the dearest metre on the island. Depth of offer is worth checking before area reputation.
Olga
Phuket Real Estate Experts
The MORE Group team has helped 500+ European and American buyers purchase property in Thailand. We provide legal support, 0% commission, and on-the-ground expertise with 8 years in the Phuket market.
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