What it costs to own a condo in Phuket: every expense after the keys

The cost of owning a condo in Phuket is everything you pay after the purchase price: the common area fee, utilities, a small annual property tax, and, if you rent the unit out, the management company's share and tax on the rent. High season on the island runs from November to April and is about to start. People are booking December viewings, and this is when they start counting what a unit costs to hold as well as to buy. I would put that question first anyway.

So the short answer first. Yes, Thailand has an annual property tax, the Land and Building Tax, collected since 2020, and on a condo it is small. The bigger line is the fee for the building, then utilities and, if you rent, the management company. You can get every one of these numbers before the deal if you ask for it.

The annual bill, three scenarios

Take a 50 m² one-bedroom in a decent project. Same unit, three ways of owning it. Recurring costs only, in baht, as of October 2026.

In dollars, roughly: $1,400-2,100 a year for the visiting owner, $2,400-3,900 for someone living there, and $1,200-1,800 once at handover. Those are rough conversions at about 33 baht to the dollar.

The visiting owner's number is mostly the building fee. The full-time number is the building fee plus air conditioning. The renting number cannot be written as one figure, because the biggest line is a share of income you have not earned yet.

How much is the common area fee?

This is the main recurring line. It is charged on the unit's area, usually 60-100 baht per m² a month. For 50 m² that is 3,000-5,000 baht a month, or 36,000-60,000 baht a year. Roughly $90-150 a month.

What it pays for: security, cleaning of the common areas, the pools, lifts, landscaping, the reception. Under section 18 of the Condominium Act every co-owner pays the common expenses in proportion to their share. That is the law, and you cannot opt out of it. It is paid whether you were on the island or not, and a year away does not reduce it.

The richer the infrastructure, the higher the fee. Three cases from my channel, with the rates from the listings:

• A one-bedroom of 35 m² in Bang Tao: 70 baht per m² a month. That is 2,450 baht a month, 29,400 a year.
• A one-bedroom of 54 m² in Laguna: 100 baht per m², 5,400 baht a month. That is 64,800 a year, for access to a whole resort.
• A townhouse of 229.95 m² in a villa complex in Thalang: 15 baht per m², about 3,450 baht a month. A low rate, on a large area.

If you have bought in Dubai, you know this as a service charge. A Phuket condo works the same way: a fixed monthly charge for the building, set by the condominium's juristic person.

Sinking fund and one-off costs at handover

The sinking fund is the building's reserve for major repairs. Usually it is 500-700 baht per m², paid once when you buy. For 50 m² that is 25,000-35,000 baht.

In some projects there is also an annual contribution on top. The Laguna unit above has one: 5,400 baht a year. Ask before the deal whether your project has it, and get the answer in writing.

The second one-off: deposits for the water and electricity meters, about 20,000 baht. Together with the sinking fund, budget about 40,000-60,000 baht at handover.

In July I sent a client a calculation for one unit. Every extra cost was known before the purchase: maintenance of the complex for two years, 103,000 roubles; the reserve fund, 43,000; installing the meters, 23,000; registering the lease, 80,000. About 249,000 roubles in total, close to 100,000 baht at the 2.5 roubles per baht I use in my posts, or roughly $3,000. In a discussion under another author's video, someone wrote about her Laguna unit that on Phuket you pay here and pay there. My answer was this:

You have to pay to own property in any country.

Sometimes it goes the other way. The Laguna developer offered the first year of maintenance, management and insurance free as a promotion. That is real money, and it covers the first year only. Count year two at full price.

What do utilities cost, lived in or empty?

Water and electricity are metered. You pay for what you use.

If you live there full time with air conditioning, expect 3,000-6,000 baht a month. That is 36,000-72,000 baht a year, and it is most of the gap between the visiting owner's total and the full-time one.

If the unit stands empty, what remains is the small minimum for keeping the connection.

If it is rented, utilities are usually paid out of rental income before the split with the management company. Read which way your agreement does it.

Property tax: small, and set by appraisal not price

Thailand has an annual property tax: the Land and Building Tax, collected since 2020 under the Land and Building Tax Act B.E. 2562. It replaced the older house and land tax, so a piece that still quotes that one is out of date.

The current tax is small. For residential property the scale runs from 0.02% at the bottom to 0.1% at the top, per the government portal. As an illustration only: on every 1,000,000 baht of appraised value that is 200-1,000 baht a year.

The base is the official Treasury Department appraisal of the unit, which is usually a different figure from your contract price. Foreigners pay at the same rate as Thai individuals, and the notice comes from the local administration once a year.

This line will not decide whether a unit works for you. I include it because people ask.

Rental income tax and the management fee

If you rent the unit out, two lines appear. They are the largest on the list.

The management company handles listings on the platforms, finding guests, check-in, cleaning between stays, minor repairs and reporting. In my annual estimates I count 30-40% of rental income for it. The exact split is in the agreement: I see 70/30 and 75/25 in the owner's favour, and some companies keep 40%.

The share is calculated from rental income. If the unit earns little in a month, the company takes little. If it earns nothing, the common area fee is still yours to pay.

Read what comes off before the split. In many agreements the booking platform's commission, around 15%, cleaning after each stay, from 1,300 baht for a one-bedroom, laundry, air conditioner servicing, consumables, minor repairs of around 2,000 baht and utilities are all deducted first. Then the rest is divided. So two agreements with the same headline split can leave you with very different money.

In a rental pool, letting the unit yourself is often prohibited by the contract. Where it is allowed, you can work with a private manager or run the listings yourself, from five thousand kilometres away. Then the guests, the reviews, the cleaning and the breakdowns are yours, including the messages at night.

Then there is income tax on the rent. Rental income in Thailand is taxable, under category 5 of the Revenue Department rules, with a standard 30% deduction for buildings. You become a Thai tax resident if you spend 180 days or more of the tax year in the country. The scale is progressive.

I do not quote rates. There is no universal calculation: it depends on whose name the unit is in, how the management agreement is written, and where you are resident. That is a conversation with a lawyer or accountant, before the deal.

This is exactly where 9% on paper becomes 5-6% in your account. I worked that through in a separate article on gross and net yield. And the season matters as much as the fees: the low season is half the year, and the building fee does not drop with it.

None of these costs is frightening, and every one of them can be counted in advance. It goes badly when someone learns about them after the keys.

What to ask the developer before you sign

Six questions. Ask them in writing and keep the answers.

1. What is the common area fee per m² a month, and what exactly does it cover?
2. Is the sinking fund one-off, or is there also an annual contribution?
3. Do you collect any of the building fee in advance, and for how long?
4. What are the meter deposits and connection costs?
5. If I rent through your management company: what is the split, and what is deducted before it?
6. Can I let the unit myself, or does the pool agreement prohibit it?

Two more checks sit next to these. Whether you are buying freehold or leasehold changes the registration costs and what you own; I explained the difference here. If the unit is still under construction, the running costs are the second question; the first is whether it gets built. My full list of pre-deal checks is in the buyer's checklist.

A developer who knows their building answers all six without trouble. A vague answer on the fee is worth noting.

Ask for a calculation with costs on every unit you look at, and ask for it before the viewing. If you are planning December viewings and want that calculation for a specific unit, under your budget and your way of using it, write to me on WhatsApp. I will lay out every line, in baht, before you fly.