Phuket Real Estate Continues to Scale New Heights

Over the past two decades, Phuket has attracted a significant influx of new property investors and foreign residents, alike. With its stunning scenery and glorious weather, this is hardly a surprise, but recently the trend has been even more pronounced. Record numbers of foreigners are now either choosing the island as a fantastic place to invest their hard earned cash, or electing to make Phuket their new idyllic home in paradise.

It is by no means an overstatement to suggest that Phuket is one of the world’s most captivating tourist destinations. Tourists flock here in droves, and many of these vacationers wind up owning their own property on the island.

Prior to 1974, the Phuket region was not on most people’s radar when it came to choosing a vacation spot. But that all changed after film goers saw James Bond pursue Francisco Scaramanga (a.k.a. The Man With the Golden Gun) to his island lair in Phang Nga Bay.

Phuket quickly began attracting greater numbers of foreign tourists, but becoming a popular home or investment location was a bit more gradual. The tragic 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami focused the eyes of the world on Phuket, and it emerged from the devastation to quickly become one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. This is also when the investment potential of the island became widespread knowledge.

The sustained growth we have witnessed in the last two decades, as people sought out the sand, sun, and extraordinary food this amazing island has to offer, has led to further development across Phuket.

New tourist attractions have sprung up to broaden the holiday experience, while new international schools continue to open to accommodate the number of growing families calling Phuket their home. A fast-growing network of new roads connects all of this to Phuket’s most noticeable infrastructure project: the expansive array of new villas being developed across the island.

Spoiled for Choice

Phuket’s growing popularity has sparked unprecedented real estate development, as new projects are being launched to attract a wide variety of investors. The choice of properties ranges from well-priced condominiums (for homes or investment) to luxury villas valued at tens of millions of US Dollars.

This boom in development has revitalized the property market on the island. Where once the options for designs and styles of homes were somewhat restricted, today buyers of real estate are very much spoiled for choice.

In fact, the extent to which the property market in Phuket has evolved makes the island barely recognisable to how it looked 20 years ago.

Here, There & Everywhere

One reason for this complete transformation is that property development is no longer limited to Phuket’s ‘prime’ locations.

Easily the most popular tourist areas, due to the beaches and the sunset vistas, fall along the west coast and in the south. Land in these areas now sells at a healthy premium, as do the developments there. But as the real estate market matures, we are seeing projects appear further inland, and these are proving to be very popular with buyers.

Some projects are launching on land that either sat idle for decades or once was used for agriculture. Former coconut groves, rubber plantations, and pineapple fields are now home to entire gated neighbourhoods of bungalows or villas. Even the buffalo pastures, once visible from condominium balconies, are slowly disappearing as buyers search for better value further inland from the high-demand west coast.

But moving inland does not mean buyers are cut off from that which attracts people to Phuket. Since the island is only 20 kilometres from east to west, any buyers sacrificing sea views for value are only 10-15 minutes by car from the crystal clear waters of the Andaman Sea.

The influx of new investors and residents has been relatively consistent; so as long as the current supply/demand dynamics remain relatively unchanged the potential for continued growth in the Phuket property sector is strong. While not cast in stone, if this trend persists, we can expect development on the island to continue in the years ahead.