Resale versus new build in Phuket: where the price gap comes from

Buyers arrive with a rule imported from another market. Callers from the Gulf tell us that in Dubai off-plan is priced above completed stock and resale trades far below it; buyers reading Russian classifieds arrive with a different figure, resale is 20–30% cheaper. We publish neither number, because neither is ours to verify. What we can do is take the Phuket gap apart: it is assembled from six separable things, and several of them say nothing about the quality of the apartment.

One disclosure before the mechanics. We do not currently list resale units and we do not take resale enquiries; the section "What we have and what we don't" explains why. This guide exists to make the market legible, not to route you into a listing of ours.

Why a private seller's price can sit lower

A developer holds one price list for the building, and it is public. The list follows the construction stage and the sales plan, a sales manager cannot go under it, and by handover it normally stands above its launch level. A private owner sells one apartment once, usually against a deadline: a relocation, a second transaction, an expiring visa, money needed by a date. The discount is often paying for speed of exit rather than for anything about the unit.

Interest-free instalments versus the full amount

Off-plan in Phuket normally comes with an interest-free schedule running to key handover: payments follow construction stages and no bank is involved. A resale seller wants the full amount at registration, and Thai banks generally do not lend to a foreigner without local income and a long-stay visa, so no mortgage bridges the difference. Note what that moves and what it does not. The price per m² is untouched; the capital you commit before handover is not. Payment structures are covered in our guide to developer instalment plans in Phuket.

Wear, refurbishment and the residual value of furniture

An apartment handed over a few years ago carries the traces of use: air conditioning, plumbing, surfaces, appliances. A humid tropical climate accelerates all of it, and what photographs well often costs money once you stand in the room. Furniture deserves its own line: new and inside the price in a new build, several rental seasons old in a resale, so price it at residual value rather than as a gift. Get a refurbishment quote before the deposit — it comes out of the discount you came for.

Is foreign freehold quota free for that specific unit?

Thai law caps foreign ownership at 49% of a condominium's saleable area. A unit once registered to a foreign owner stays inside that quota, so reselling it to another foreigner needs no new slot. If the seller is a Thai owner, the unit sits in the Thai 51%, and registering it to you in foreign freehold works only while the building still has quota free. No free quota means leasehold: 30 registered years with renewals written into the contract, and reselling a lease is an assignment on that contract's terms. Some of the cheapest resale listings are cheap for exactly this reason. The condominium juristic person keeps the register and issues the written answer.

Transfer fee and seller-side taxes

At registration the Land Department charges a transfer fee of 2% of the official appraised value; how buyer and seller split it is contractual, and halving it is common practice rather than a rule. Seller-side taxes sit on top: specific business tax at 3.3% of the higher of contract price or appraisal, or stamp duty at 0.5% where SBT does not apply, plus income-tax withholding. SBT and stamp duty are alternatives on the same taxable sale, not additions. A developer costs this block in advance; in a private sale it stays negotiable, and a seller who expects to carry it prices it in. Rates and sources are set out in our guide to taxes and costs when buying property in Thailand.

One cost disappears on a resale. The sinking fund is a one-time contribution collected from the first buyer at handover and is not charged again when the unit changes hands; only a vote of the co-owners can replenish it. Working the other way, a new-build buyer also pays meter registration and usually a year of CAM in advance, so a developer price list is not the final figure either.

How to read a "resale is cheaper" listing

Two buyers read the same advertisement differently. Buyers from the Gulf and North America price the whole unit; European buyers price the square metre. Both are legitimate, and the 20–30% claim usually survives only one of them. Run the comparison through this list first.

• Floor area and price per m². The same ticket often buys ten square metres less. For reference, our new-build catalogue runs at THB 140k/m² in Bang Tao and THB 142k/m² in Rawai.
• Building, floor and aspect. A sea view from an upper floor and an inland view from the second sit in different price bands at one address.
• Title. Freehold and leasehold are not comparable on price alone: different rights, different liquidity on exit. For a lease, ask how many of the registered 30 years remain.
• What is included: furniture, appliances, parking, storage, and the condition of each.
• Arrears and building decisions. Unpaid CAM and a repair levy already voted by the owners travel with the unit.
• Asking price against transaction price. A developer publishes a dated list; a private seller publishes an expectation, and the real figure appears after negotiation, arrears and the split of fees.

If it is finished and well priced, why is it still for sale?

A buyer put that to us in as many words, and it is the right question for a seller. Sometimes the answer is dull and fine: the owner is leaving and wants a clean exit. Sometimes it is the quota, a short remaining lease, an interior nobody wants to refurbish, or a building where dozens of identical units are listed at once and none of them moves. A seller with a clean answer has the documents behind it; a seller who answers with the expiry date of a discount has not answered.

When resale is the better buy

• You can see it. The real floor, the real view, road noise, whether the air conditioning works and how the building looks in its fifth year.
• No completion risk. The keys exist today and the handover date cannot slip.
• The building has a record. Management shows a budget, the CAM rate and minutes of owners' meetings, where an off-plan project can only show a plan.
• A tenant may already be in place. A live tenancy pays from month one, with no pause for fit-out and letting.
• The sinking fund has already been paid by the previous owner.

When resale is the weaker buy

• The full amount is due now: no instalments on the resale market, and generally no mortgage for a foreign buyer without local income.
• Worn finishes and tired furniture, with the refurbishment eating the discount inside the first year.
• The foreign quota is closed, so freehold is off the table for that unit.
• Liquidity in a large, uniform scheme. When dozens of identical units are listed at once you compete with your neighbours on the way in and repeat the same discount on the way out.
• No developer warranty on structure and equipment covers a private sale.

The two routes side by side

Resale-specific checks before a deposit

The general document list — what to ask a seller, what the deposit agreement has to say, how a refund works — is in our guide on what to check before paying a deposit on a Phuket condo, and it applies here in full. Below are only the items a resale adds.

• How the seller acquired the unit, what the title shows, and whether the name in the contract matches the register.
• A foreign quota letter from the condominium juristic person and a debt-free certificate. Without both, a transfer to a foreign buyer will not be registered.
• A statement of outstanding CAM and how it is cleared before registration.
• Minutes of owners' meetings covering capital repairs and levies the building has already approved.
• The split of the transfer fee and seller-side taxes, written into the contract before the deposit rather than after the searches.
• For a leasehold unit: years remaining, renewal terms, and whether the lessor's consent is needed for the assignment.
• For a tenanted unit: the agreement, its term and rent, the tenant's deposit and who returns it.
• The money route. Agree the payment reference and bank document with the receiving bank before sending funds; evidence that the money arrived from abroad is required to register foreign freehold.

What we have and what we don't

Plainly: since September 2026 resale units have been off our shelf at the request of the catalogue owner, because some may already have sold and stale cards confuse a catalogue more than they help it. The agency is not working on resale in this period, so we do not collect resale enquiries and do not promise a resale search. If resale is what you want, we will say so rather than improvise a shortlist.

What we do have: 571 listings in Phuket across 189 developments, entry from THB 2.1M and a median asking price of THB 10.2M. Every price comes directly from the developer with the date it was confirmed, and the video was shot by us on site. Found a resale unit and want to test the gap? Send it over. We will price both deals in one table — payment schedule, fees, seller-side taxes and the cost of bringing the unit back to standard.

The City Phuket Phase 2, Building C

photos on request

Price on request

Kathu · 2 bd · 79 m²Under constructionAvailability to be confirmed

Save: The City Phuket Phase 2, Building C, Kathu, 2 bd, 79 m²

Price on request

Babylon Sky Garden 2

Rawai · 2 bd · 72 m²CompletedAvailability to be confirmed

Save: Babylon Sky Garden 2, Rawai, 2 bd, 72 m²

Developer render

THB 10.1Mfirst instalment 40%: THB 4.0M

Abov Patong Residence (EX The Forest Patong Residence)

Patong · 1 bd · 29 m² · THB 346,897/m²Under construction

Save: Abov Patong Residence (EX The Forest Patong Residence), Patong, 1 bd, 29 m²

Developer render

THB 2.5M

Dcondo Cove

Kathu · 1 bd · 24 m² · THB 104,833/m²Under construction

Save: Dcondo Cove, Kathu, 1 bd, 24 m²

THB 2.4M

DCondo Reef

Kathu · 1 bd · 28 m² · THB 86,714/m²Completed

Save: DCondo Reef, Kathu, 1 bd, 28 m²

THB 5.0Mfirst instalment 25%: THB 1.2M

Dominion

Rawai · studio · 32 m² · THB 155,938/m²Under construction

Save: Dominion, Rawai, studio, 32 m²

Sources and the limits of this guide

Fee and tax rates here are baseline figures, not a quote for your transaction: relief, the seller's status and the holding period are for a Thai adviser to confirm. The "20–30% cheaper" expectation is quoted as something buyers tell us, and the same goes for what callers report about Dubai. We run no statistics of our own on completed Phuket resale transactions.