Thailand Condo Cost Calculator 2026: Total Cost of Ownership

This calculator returns the full cost of buying, owning, and reselling a Thai condominium. Enter a purchase price, unit size, city, new-build or resale, freehold or leasehold, and a holding period. It outputs one-time acquisition costs (transfer fee 1 percent buyer share, sinking fund at 800 THB per sqm, legal 40,000 THB, meter installation 10,000 THB), annual holding costs (CAM 60 THB per sqm monthly, insurance 8,000 THB, Land and Building Tax at 0.02 percent of purchase price), sale-side taxes at the end of the holding period (Specific Business Tax 3.3 percent if held under 5 years, stamp duty 0.5 percent if 5 years or more, and an approximate withholding tax), and total cost of ownership over 5 and 10 years. Every rate cites a Thai statute, Revenue Department guidance, or a named 2026 market source and is documented in the assumptions section below.

What the calculator does

It estimates the net cash a foreign buyer will commit to a Thai condo across its full life cycle. Most online guides cover transfer fee alone. That is about 40 percent of the true first-year cost. This tool adds sinking fund, legal, meter installation, annual CAM, insurance, property tax, and resale taxes. It surfaces a number most buyers never see until they already own: 5- and 10-year total cost of ownership. Use the result to compare two units honestly, price a resale correctly, or challenge a developer who has quoted only the headline price.

Total: 136k THB

• Transfer fee buyer share (1%) 50k THB (36.8%)
• Sinking fund (45 sqm × 800) 36k THB (26.5%)
• Legal fees (flat) 40k THB (29.4%)
• Meter + common setup 10k THB (7.4%)

Purchase price (THB)Unit size (sqm)CityPattayaBangkokPhuketChiang MaiHua HinKoh SamuiTypeNew buildResaleOwnershipFreeholdLeasehold (30-year)Years held at sale (0 = still owned)

How each number is calculated

Every figure in the calculator traces to a Thai statute, a Revenue Department table, or a cited 2026 market survey. Below is the full rate schedule with citations, exactly as the script applies them.

One-time acquisition costs

Transfer fee: 2 percent of appraised value, split 50/50 by market custom. The Land Department charges 2 percent on the transfer of condominium title under the Land Code and the 2026 Ministerial Regulation on registration fees. By custom the buyer and seller share it equally, so the buyer pays 1 percent. Some developers agree to absorb the full 2 percent on new-build launches; do not assume it.

Sinking fund: 800 THB per sqm, paid once at handover. The Condominium Act Section 40 requires every unit to contribute a one-time reserve for major repairs. Market practice in 2026 across Pattaya, Bangkok, Phuket, and Chiang Mai is 500 to 1,000 THB per sqm; the calculator uses 800 as a city-neutral midpoint. Branded residences and pool-villa complexes in Phuket run higher.

Legal fees: 40,000 THB flat. Siam Legal, Tilleke and Gibbins, and mid-tier Pattaya and Bangkok firms quote 30,000 to 60,000 THB for standard condominium due diligence, bilingual contract review, foreign-quota confirmation, Foreign Exchange Transaction form compliance, and attendance at the Land Department. Fund-transfer complexity or litigation review can push this higher; the default 40,000 reflects a median uncomplicated foreign purchase.

Meter installation and common setup: 10,000 THB. New-build handovers usually include an electricity meter charge, a water meter, common-area activation, and a mail-box fee. Resales inherit the existing meters and skip most of this; the calculator keeps the figure in for conservatism.

Lease registration (leasehold only): 1.1 percent of price. The Land Department registers a 30-year lease at 1 percent registration fee plus 0.1 percent stamp duty on the lease consideration. This is on top of any transfer costs if the structure involves a separate freehold common-area share.

Annual holding costs

Common-area maintenance (CAM): 60 THB per sqm per month. The juristic person sets the rate; CBRE’s 2026 outlook and Hipflat’s national survey both put 2026 averages at 40 to 100 THB per sqm per month, with premium beachfront Wongamat and Sukhumvit prime-core buildings at the top of the range. The calculator uses a national midpoint of 60.

Insurance: 8,000 THB per year. A standard contents and personal-liability policy for a 30-to-80 sqm condo from Muang Thai, Dhipaya, or Viriyah costs 5,000 to 15,000 THB annually. The calculator uses 8,000 as a mid-sized-unit default.

Land and Building Tax: 0.02 percent of purchase price. The Land and Building Tax Act B.E. 2562 (2019) set progressive rates for residential property. For a primary residence below 50 million THB the effective rate is 0.02 percent. For a second home or investment unit, the rate steps up; the calculator applies 0.02 percent as the owner-occupier baseline. Adjust upward for held-as-investment scenarios.

Sale-side taxes

Transfer fee seller share: 1 percent of price. Same 2 percent fee as acquisition, again split 50/50.

Specific Business Tax: 3.3 percent of appraised value if held under 5 years. Revenue Code Sections 91/2 and 91/6 charge SBT on property sales within five years of acquisition. Royal Decree (No. 342) B.E. 2541 exempts sales after five years, at which point stamp duty of 0.5 percent applies instead.

Withholding tax: approximately 1 to 3 percent of price. Section 50(5) of the Revenue Code taxes the gain at progressive personal income rates on the portion of appraised value that exceeds a deduction scaled to years of ownership. The calculator uses a simplified proxy (3.0 percent if held 1 year, dropping to 1.0 percent at 11+ years). A precise number requires the Land Department’s official deduction table and the current appraised value; use this figure as a planning estimate, not a filing.

Total cost of ownership

5- and 10-year TCO = one-time costs + annual costs multiplied by holding years + sale-side taxes if sold. No discount rate is applied; results are in nominal 2026 THB. For a discounted-cash-flow calculation, run the outputs through a separate finance model. The intent here is to compare two properties on like-for-like terms, not to price a financial instrument.

How costs vary by city

The calculator is city-neutral on rates for a reason: the statutes apply nationally. Transfer fee, SBT, stamp duty, withholding, and Land and Building Tax are set in Bangkok and charged identically in Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, and Koh Samui. What changes between cities is the juristic-person-set CAM, the sinking fund, and the appraised value used by the Land Department for tax calculations.

Bangkok prime-core Sukhumvit buildings (Asoke, Phrom Phong, Thong Lo, Ekkamai) sit at 80 to 120 THB per sqm per month for CAM and 800 to 1,200 THB per sqm sinking fund. Pattaya mid-tier Jomtien, Central, and Pratumnak stock averages 40 to 60 THB per sqm CAM and 500 to 700 THB per sqm sinking fund. Phuket West Coast branded residences (Bang Tao, Layan, Kamala, Patong) run 100 to 150 THB per sqm CAM with hotel-grade services and 1,000 to 1,500 THB per sqm sinking fund reflecting pool, beach-club, and infrastructure load. Chiang Mai and Hua Hin cluster around Pattaya mid-tier levels. Koh Samui villa-hybrid condominium developments sit at or above Phuket West Coast rates.

Appraised value, which the Land Department uses for transfer fee and Specific Business Tax, is almost always lower than market value. The ratio varies by district: in Pattaya central beachfront the appraised value is typically 60 to 75 percent of market; in Bangkok prime Sukhumvit it can fall to 50 to 60 percent; in outlying Chiang Mai and Hua Hin districts it is closer to market. Because the calculator applies tax rates to the input purchase price, not the appraised value, its sale-side numbers lean conservative. In practice the actual tax bill is usually 20 to 40 percent lower for an appraisal-vs-market-heavy district. Treat the calculator output as an upper bound for tax, a planning reality for one-time and annual costs.

Worked examples

Three scenarios show how the numbers move with purchase price, city, and holding period.

Example 1: Pattaya studio, held 7 years

A 1.9 million THB Jomtien studio of 30 sqm, new build, freehold, planned to sell at year 7. One-time costs total roughly 97,000 THB (transfer 19,000 + sinking 24,000 + legal 40,000 + meters 10,000 + minor). Annual holding is about 30,000 THB (CAM 21,600 + insurance 8,000 + tax 380). Sale at year 7 triggers stamp duty (0.5 percent = 9,500 THB) plus transfer share 19,000 plus withholding around 23,000 THB. 10-year TCO lands near 425,000 THB, or roughly 22 percent of the purchase price, most of which is CAM and one-time handover.

Example 2: Bangkok 1-bedroom, held 4 years

A 6 million THB Asoke 1-bedroom of 40 sqm, resale, freehold, planned to sell at year 4. One-time: 118,000 THB. Annual: 45,000 THB. Year-4 sale triggers SBT (3.3 percent = 198,000 THB) plus transfer share 60,000 plus withholding near 130,000 THB. Selling before year 5 roughly doubles the exit cost compared to waiting twelve more months.

Example 3: Phuket 2-bedroom, held 10 years

A 12 million THB Bang Tao 2-bedroom of 90 sqm, new build, leasehold, planned to sell at year 10. One-time: 320,000 THB including lease registration of 132,000 THB. Annual: 73,000 THB. Year-10 sale: stamp 60,000 plus transfer share 120,000 plus withholding near 144,000 THB. 10-year TCO near 1.37 million THB, about 11 percent of the purchase price, which is why Phuket leasehold premium stock remains viable even against short holding horizons.

What the calculator deliberately excludes

A handful of real costs sit outside the model because they are scenario-specific and would mislead at default values. Money-transfer costs (Wise, SWIFT wire, or the buyer’s Thai-bank Foreign Exchange Transaction form preparation) run 0.3 to 1.5 percent of the purchase price and should be added to one-time costs for an honest cash-out figure. Furniture packages are offered at 150,000 to 600,000 THB for a studio to 2-bedroom unit; they are invoiced outside the transfer and carry 7 percent VAT. Any bank-mortgage scenario (rare for foreign buyers) carries origination fees, mortgage-registration fees at 1 percent of the loan, and interest payments that change every month. Developer-held paper payment plans are interest-free during construction but may carry a penalty for late settlement. Inflation is not modelled: at 2 to 3 percent annual THB inflation, year-10 CAM and insurance numbers in nominal terms would run 20 to 30 percent above the figure shown.

Assumptions and caveats

The calculator uses defensible midpoints, not your specific building’s rates. Use it as a planning tool. For an offer, commissioning a juristic-person statement of CAM and sinking fund and a tax-lawyer quote on withholding is non-negotiable.

• Transfer fee: 2 percent split 50/50 by custom. Developer waivers are scenario-specific and not modelled.
• Sinking fund at 800 THB per sqm is a national midpoint. Your actual bill is in the Purchase and Sale Agreement addendum.
• CAM at 60 THB per sqm per month is a national midpoint. The juristic person’s annual general meeting minutes carry the precise current rate.
• Insurance default 8,000 THB assumes contents plus liability, not a mortgage-required full-value building policy.
• Land and Building Tax default is 0.02 percent (primary residence under 50 million THB). A second home, empty unit, or commercial use can face 0.03 to 1.20 percent.
• Withholding tax is a planning proxy only. The official calculation uses appraised value, a years-held deduction table, and progressive rates; consult a tax specialist before closing.
• Leasehold lease registration uses 1 percent + 0.1 percent stamp on price as a proxy for the lease consideration.
• All results are nominal 2026 THB. No inflation adjustment, no discounting.

FAQ

Is this calculator accurate enough to base an offer on?

No tool is. This one is tight enough to decide whether a unit is worth a full due-diligence pass. For the offer, you need the specific juristic-person CAM and sinking fund, the developer’s fee schedule, a tax-lawyer withholding calculation, and a current appraised value from the Land Department.

Why does the calculator sometimes show a tax higher than capital gains would have been?

Because Thai withholding tax is not a capital-gains tax. It is a tax on the appraised value with a deduction based on years held, regardless of whether you made a profit. Short holds and high appraised values can produce tax bills that look disproportionate. See the guide on capital gains tax on condos for the full mechanics.

Does the 1 percent buyer transfer fee always apply?

It is market custom, not law. The statute charges 2 percent to the transferor. Some new-build developers absorb the full 2 percent in launch promotions. Read the Purchase and Sale Agreement before assuming any split.

What if the building runs a pool-heating or garden bond on top of CAM?

Add it to the annual line. Branded residences in Phuket and a handful of Pattaya beachfront towers levy additional bonds; the juristic person’s annual general meeting minutes document them. Increase the CAM input to include them.

How does leasehold change the math?

The calculator adds 1.1 percent of price as lease registration at acquisition and keeps all other inputs the same. Leasehold exit is more complex: assignment depends on the head lease terms, and many structures require the lessor’s consent. Run a lawyer review before assuming you can resell cleanly.

Can I share the result URL?

Not in this version. The calculator runs entirely in the browser with no state serialisation. For a saved scenario, screenshot the result or copy the numbers into a spreadsheet.

How does this compare with the rental yield calculator?

The cost calculator models cash out. The rental yield calculator models cash in. Run both on the same unit to see whether the rental income covers annual holding and leaves net cash.

What about VAT on the purchase price?

New-build developers do not charge VAT on condominium sales; the tax base is the transfer fee, SBT, stamp duty, and withholding. Furniture packages are sometimes invoiced separately with 7 percent VAT. The calculator excludes furniture.