Foreign Buyer Demand in Q4 2026: Match the Property to the Market

Real estate Q4/2026
#WhereAreMyCustomers
Which nationalities are becoming demand?
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These days I have talked with many agents
and there is one question I hear often:
“Where have all the customers gone?”
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Actually, I do not think they are gone.
The problem is that we are still looking
for foreign customers in the old way.
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In the past, when we talked about foreigners buying Thai real estate,
we usually thought of “China” first.
That was not wrong,
because China is still a large market.
.
But if you still think
foreigners = China only,
I think it is becoming dangerous,
because today
foreign demand
is spreading out much more widely.
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Chinese buyers are still buying.
Russians are coming too.
Japanese are still here.
Taiwanese are starting to come in.
India is growing.
Europe is still present.
The Middle East is beginning to look interesting.
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It is just that each nationality
does not want the same type of real estate
and does not live in the same locations.
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This is what agents should begin to see differently.
Do not ask, “What do foreigners like?”
Change the question to:
“Which nationality is this property suitable to sell or rent to?”
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These two questions look similar,
but the actual work is very different.
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Suppose you have a condominium for rent
at 30,000–80,000 baht per month in Bangkok.
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The markets to consider may be Japan, China, Taiwan and India,
including Europeans who come to work in Thailand.
But if it is Bangkok Luxury, for both sale and rent,
the market changes again.
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Japan, the UK, Taiwan and Russia,
including customers from the Middle East,
will begin to play a larger role.
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So the words “Bangkok condominium” alone
are already too broad.
You need to go further:
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What price?
Which neighborhood?
What room size?
Is the customer living there or buying for investment?
And finally, who are we selling to?
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Sukhumvit: Japan is still important, but not only Japan.
For Sukhumvit,
the Japanese market is still a group I would definitely not overlook,
especially properties that meet the needs of workers
and foreign families.
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But today Sukhumvit is no longer only Japanese.
There are also European expats, Chinese, Taiwanese and other foreigners
who come to live or work in Bangkok.
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Some owners try to market a room very broadly,
advertising:
“Luxury condo Sukhumvit for foreigners.”
It sounds comprehensive,
but in reality it says almost nothing
about what type of customer we want.
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If we know the room is targeting Japanese customers,
the decoration, photos, written details, posting channels
and even the things we highlight for sale
will all change.
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That is marketing that starts with the customer,
not with the property.
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Phuket is another game.
If you work in Phuket
and think you can use the same formula as Bangkok,
you cannot.
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Phuket has a clear presence of Russian, British, American, European
and Middle Eastern markets.
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More importantly, the rental market plays a major role
because many customers
do not start by buying immediately.
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Some people move in first,
rent first,
try living there first
and then decide whether to buy.
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Therefore, for some Phuket villas or condominiums,
if you think only about selling,
you may be overlooking the larger market right in front of you.
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Pattaya–Chonburi: Russia and China
are markets that must still be considered.
Pattaya and Chonburi have their own character.
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Russia is still a visible group.
China is still there.
Europe also has a customer base.
But importantly, do not take the word “Pattaya”
and combine it all into one market.
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Customers looking at beachfront condominiums,
customers buying to rent out,
customers coming to work,
retired customers
or customers buying a home to live in
are all different markets.
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For the EEC and Si Racha,
you must think about “work” before “lifestyle.”
For the EEC and Si Racha,
I would primarily look at Japanese, Chinese and Taiwanese customers
and groups connected to the industrial sector.
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Because some demand
does not arise from
wanting a home in a tourist city.
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It comes from
factories, companies and executives,
engineers, suppliers
and people sent to work in the area.
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So a good property for this market
does not have to look the most spectacular.
It may need to be easy to travel to,
near an industrial estate, near companies, with parking,
convenient for real living and easy to manage.
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Simply put,
do not use the way you sell a Sukhumvit condominium in the EEC.
The customers have different reasons.
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Large houses and family-size properties:
I think India is becoming more interesting.
Another market I want you to watch
is India.
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Especially properties with a lot of usable space,
many bedrooms or that suit families,
including European and Middle Eastern customers.
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Some people in this group
are not looking for a small 25–30 sq.m. room.
They value space, living together with several people,
privacy and real life.
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If you have a large house or family-size condominium,
do not assume the property is hard to sell
because Thai people do not buy it.
Sometimes we may simply be looking for the wrong customer group.
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For small investment condominiums, China is still present,
but I will not entrust my life to China as before.
This is where I think owners
and agents must adapt the most.
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China is still a customer for Thai real estate.
But I will no longer assume that
build a small room,
attach it to a railway station,
make an investment package,
and then Chinese buyers will buy.
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That era is not as easy as before.
The Chinese market itself has economic factors,
money-outflow rules and changing buyer behavior.
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Therefore, if an entire project
or an entire portfolio can be sold
only to Chinese buyers,
I would see it as more of a risk than an advantage.
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Finally,
what I want to tell owners and agents is:
foreigners have not disappeared.
They are spreading out.
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And the Thai real-estate market
is beginning to have customers of many nationalities,
with many reasons
and many more forms.
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So before accepting a property,
I want you to ask yourself first:
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Where is this property?
What is the price?
Is it more suitable for buying or renting?
Who is likely to live there?
Who has a reason to come and live here?
And which nationality is the person we should go and find?
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Because from now on,
the person with many properties
may not be the person who sells best.
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The person who knows
“who this type of property should be sold to”
is more likely to succeed.

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