The purchase price is the part you will think about least once you own it. These are the four layers of cost underneath it - buying, owning, letting and selling - and the calculators to run your own numbers.
Most people arriving at a Phuket purchase have a price in their head and nothing else. The price is the part you will think about least once you own it. What decides whether the property works is the set of recurring costs underneath it, and the gap between a gross rent and the money that actually reaches your account.
This hub puts every cost in one place: the one-off costs of buying, the recurring costs of owning, the costs that come out of rental income before you see it, and the costs of selling again at the end.
Three calculators, all of which run on figures you enter rather than assumptions we have made for you.
One-off, paid at or around transfer, and consistently underestimated. Transfer fees at the Land Office, any applicable business tax or stamp duty, legal fees, and the cost of getting funds into Thailand in a form that satisfies the ownership rules.
Recurring, unavoidable, and the reason honest net yields are so much lower than advertised gross ones. Service charge and sinking fund are the two big lines; insurance, utilities, annual land and building tax and in-unit maintenance make up the rest.
If the property is let, a further layer sits between gross rent and your distribution: the management split, booking-channel commissions, cleaning and consumables, vacancy, and tax in both Thailand and at home. This is where a double-digit gross becomes a mid-single-digit net.
The end of the transaction is a cost too, and it changes the horizon over which a purchase makes sense. Thai withholding and business taxes on disposal, agency fees, and — for a UK taxpayer — a potential UK capital gains charge on the same gain.
Once all four layers are accounted for, a realistic net yield on Phuket rental property sits in the mid-single-digits — in the region of 4–5%. That figure is not guaranteed and your capital is at risk. It is a perfectly reasonable return for a hard asset in a market you enjoy visiting; it is not the double-digit number that gets advertised, and anyone quoting you one without naming the service charge, the management split and the vacancy assumption is quoting a gross figure.
Want the actual running costs for a specific building, not a general guide?
See if you qualify →The recurring annual costs are the service charge and sinking-fund contribution, insurance, utilities, the annual land and building tax, and in-unit maintenance. If the property is let, add the management split, cleaning and consumables, and tax. The service charge, quoted per square metre, is usually the largest single line.
Gross yield is annual rent divided by purchase price. Net yield is what remains after the management split, service charge, sinking fund, insurance, maintenance, vacancy and tax. The gap between the two is large, which is why honest Phuket net yields sit in the mid-single-digits while advertised gross figures run much higher.
It is negotiable and commonly split, though practice varies by transaction and by developer. It is one of several Land Office charges due at transfer, so establish who is paying what in writing before completion rather than on the day.
In the region of 4-5% net after all costs is the honest planning assumption. It is not guaranteed and your capital is at risk. Double-digit figures quoted in marketing are almost always gross, or a guaranteed period that later expires.
Reviewed 2026-07-20 · Written by James Allwinton, who runs the research and the numbers behind every introduction at The Expat Investor. We are an introducer, not a financial, legal or tax adviser — this is general information, not advice.
How we source this: cost categories follow Thailand's Condominium Act and the Land Department and Revenue Department positions set out across our answers library; the calculators use figures you enter yourself rather than assumptions of ours. Figures for any specific building — price, service charge, sinking fund and the net yield actually achieved — are confirmed with you privately rather than published here.