Phnom Penh is usually a long-stay housing investment, while Phuket is often a seasonal hospitality operation with higher peak revenue and far more moving costs.
A similar advertised yield can describe two entirely different businesses. A Phnom Penh apartment is commonly leased to one resident for six or twelve months. A Phuket unit may be sold around nightly rates, booking channels, an operator, cleaning, linen, utilities and an annual calendar that depends on flights and weather. Comparing only the percentage hides the operational difference.
Phuket can deliver high-season pricing, international leisure demand and a strong buyer pool for clean foreign-freehold condominiums in established locations. It also has pronounced variance. Knight Frank reported 2025 hotel occupancy of 76.2%, with January reaching 92% and the June-to-September low season materially weaker year on year. A privately owned condo will not match hotel occupancy, but the pattern illustrates why a resort forecast must be monthly rather than annualised from a good winter.
Phnom Penh does not offer the same global holiday brand and its resale market is thinner. Its standard investment structure is often easier to read: qualifying strata title, pricing and rent commonly in USD, and one long-term tenant rather than a continuous turnover of guests. The decision is therefore not “which market has the higher yield?” It is whether the owner wants a housing asset or a small hospitality business.
Rules and deal terms can change; check the exact unit, current documents and contract before committing.
| Criterion | Phnom Penh | Phuket |
|---|---|---|
| Indicative price per sq m | about US$2,700 CBD | THB125k–160k |
| Phuket’s 2025 market average; Bang Tao, Layan and Kamala projects could exceed THB180k materially. | ||
| Typical foreign product | strata-title condo | freehold condo or leasehold |
| A cheap leasehold, hotel-room contract and foreign-freehold condo are different rights with different exits. | ||
| Foreign condo quota | up to 70% area | up to 49% area |
| Quota is confirmed for the building and affects resale to the next foreign buyer. | ||
| Villa land | not part of strata | generally not foreign freehold |
| Phuket buyers must separate land title, lease, building ownership, permit and any registered superficies. | ||
| Base rental model | six to twelve months | seasonal or hybrid |
| Rawai and Chalong include more long-stay demand; Patong, Bang Tao and Kamala follow different leisure patterns. | ||
| Seasonality | moderate urban cycle | high resort exposure |
| Phuket is sensitive to airlift, source markets, weather and competition from other beach destinations. | ||
| Operator dependency | optional | often central |
| The contract sets commission, channels, owner use, repairs, discounts, reporting and termination rights. | ||
| Stays below 30 days | check local rules | generally hotel activity |
| A licence or applicable exemption is normally required; condominium rules may be stricter. | ||
| Model currency | usually USD | THB |
| Phuket adds exchange-rate exposure and inbound-funds evidence for foreign-freehold registration. | ||
| Net-income deductions | vacancy and management | operator plus guest turnover |
| Phuket also adds channels, cleaning, linen, utilities, damage, low season and furniture refresh. | ||
| Resale liquidity | uneven secondary market | strong but tenure-led |
| Good foreign freehold is broad; leasehold, hotel contracts and short remaining terms narrow the pool. | ||
| Tax and fee complexity | more compact, asset-specific | multiple transaction layers |
| Thailand combines transfer costs, seller taxes, rental income and potentially an operating-company structure. | ||
The operating model is usually lighter: fewer guest turnovers, lower variable costs and a USD-based rent. The key risks shift to district selection, building management and tenant quality.
The island offers established leisure infrastructure and personal-use value. The owner must remove blocked owner-use nights and full operating costs before judging the return.
US$40,000–100,000 can still reach a functional new strata unit. A low Phuket headline price often reflects a weaker location, leasehold tenure or a product unlike foreign freehold.
A strong legal rental format, location and operator can produce higher peak revenue. The model requires monthly reporting and a credible low-season stress case.
A registered strata unit is easier to analyse than a villa combining land lease and building rights. Phuket can still fit where the condominium is clean foreign freehold or the villa structure is exceptionally well documented.
A city apartment in Phnom Penh normally earns through one medium- or long-term lease. The main moving parts are rent, one or two possible vacant months, leasing commission, management, common charges, repairs and tax. The owner is not turning over linen after each stay or watching a platform ranking every week. A reliable tenant and responsive building can create a relatively steady year.
A Phuket unit may function much more like a small hotel. Revenue is the product of sellable nights, average daily rate, channel mix, cancellations, cleaning, electricity, operator commission and season. The island is not one rental market: Patong is exposed to short mass leisure; Bang Tao and Kamala to premium seasons and family demand; Rawai and Chalong have more long-stay residents; Phuket Town is more locally urban.
That is why an “average Phuket yield” is not a decision tool. The buyer needs a zone, a lawful rental format, a monthly calendar and clarity on whether the asset is a condominium title, a hotel-room contract or participation in an operating scheme.
Phuket property income is linked to how easily and affordably travellers can reach the island. Knight Frank recorded about 8.76 million air arrivals in 2025: 5.43 million international and 3.33 million domestic. Russia was the largest international source market, followed by India, China, the United Kingdom and Australia. That mix is valuable, but an owner still needs to identify which markets actually use the chosen beach and unit type.
The island’s hotel occupancy averaged 76.2% in 2025. January peaked at 92%, while June through September ran five to nine percentage points below the same months in 2024. Those numbers should not be inserted into a condo spreadsheet: hotels have brands, sales teams and inventory-management systems. They do show why twelve equal months are a poor assumption.
Phnom Penh’s rental base is less directly tied to leisure airlift. Tenants arrive for employment, business, education or family life. The city remains exposed to the economy and corporate relocation, but a weak beach season is not the central variable in the lease.
Phuket investment products are often sold with an operator already in the story. The key document is not the brochure but the management contract: commission on gross or net revenue, platform costs, cleaning, utilities, minor repairs, reserve requirements, owner-use rules, discount authority, payout timing and control of guest deposits.
Term and termination are equally important. If a brand or operator is attached to the unit, a future buyer may have to accept the agreement. A guaranteed-income programme is not a market yield; it is a payment promise by one legal entity. The investor needs the duration, exclusions, early-termination rights, funding source and financial capacity of that party.
A Phnom Penh manager usually has a narrower remit: find a long-term tenant, collect rent, inspect the unit, coordinate repairs and deal with building management. Service quality can still be poor, but the contract is easier to reconcile with the bank statement. In both markets, the owner should retain access to bookings, invoices, rent receipts and termination mechanisms.
A foreign individual does not normally acquire Thai villa land in personal freehold. The phrase “own the villa” must therefore be divided into documents: the landowner and title, the registered lease, ownership of the structure, building permission and any registered right of superficies. A share transfer in a Thai company is a fifth structure, not a simple equivalent to personal land title.
Section 540 of Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code generally limits a registered immovable-property lease to 30 years. A 30+30+30 formula describes one registered period plus future renewal promises; it is not an existing 90-year real right. As the first term runs down, the remaining duration becomes part of the price and the resale audience.
A foreign-freehold condominium is cleaner to analyse: title, 49% quota, common-charge clearance, house rules and the inbound-funds trail. Phnom Penh strata title also excludes land, but for an ordinary investment apartment it is a more direct ownership structure. A Phuket villa may be a compelling lifestyle asset, yet it should not be valued as though it carried perpetual land title.
Consider an illustrative Phnom Penh unit costing US$150,000 and renting for US$950 a month. Eleven paid months produce US$10,450 gross. After 8% management and an assumed US$1,200 for common charges, repairs and insurance, approximately US$8,400 remains before tax, or about 5.6%. This is a worked example, not a market average.
Now consider a THB7 million Phuket unit. A strong year of 180 paid nights at THB4,500 produces THB810,000 gross. Deducting an assumed 25% for operator and channels and THB180,000 for common costs, utilities, refresh and reserve leaves roughly THB428,000, or 6.1% before tax. A weaker year of 140 nights at THB4,000 leaves about THB240,000, or 3.4%, under the same assumptions.
The lesson is variance, not the exact percentages. Phuket needs a monthly model including owner use and low season. Phnom Penh needs a stress case for a long vacancy or lower renewal rent. Only net can be compared with net.
Knight Frank placed Phuket’s accumulated condominium supply at 42,061 units in 2025, with about 5,073 new units launched and 4,455 units sold. Bang Tao captured the largest share of both new supply and sales. The figures confirm meaningful international demand, but they also reveal competition: a resale owner may face new phases, developer incentives and many nearly identical units.
The broadest exit is usually a clean foreign-freehold unit with available quota, sensible common charges and sound management. Leasehold transfers with the remaining term; a hotel-room contract transfers with its operator terms; a villa transfers with the entire land, lease and building structure. A sea view improves marketing but cannot replace a right the next buyer and their bank will accept.
Phnom Penh has fewer secondary buyers and weaker public transaction evidence. A qualifying strata title, however, does not lose years from a lease term. In both locations, buyers should request recent registered transfers and count active competing units in the same project before purchase.
Phuket sells the dream extremely well, and that is exactly why I slow the conversation down. A villa is not just a bigger condo with a private pool. It comes with a completely different ownership, maintenance and rental routine. If the owner will spend most of the year abroad, I want to know who handles the property when something breaks, a guest checks out, or the pool needs attention. Condos remove some of that friction, but then you are competing with the rest of the building. On Phuket, the wrong purchase can be an expensive lesson, so the operating reality matters just as much as the postcard view.
Mark Erometskiy
Co-founder of Bomi Home · Pattaya and Phuket real estate
It should not be assumed. Accommodation below 30 days generally falls within hotel activity and normally requires a licence or applicable exemption. The condominium juristic person may impose stricter house rules.
No. That is an average for professionally operated hotels with brands and sales systems. A private unit depends on location, price, reviews, operator, legal format and the number of nights actually available.
Foreign-freehold condominium title is generally easier to document and resell. A leasehold villa can work, but land title, lease term, building ownership, permits, superficies and transfer conditions all require separate review.
No. Usually only the first term of up to 30 years is registered. Later renewals depend on the contract, law and the future lessor’s ability and willingness to perform.
Operator and channel commission, cleaning, linen, electricity, common charges, repairs, furniture refresh, guest damage, insurance, vacancy, owner use and tax. Some contracts obscure these inside the phrase “after operating expenses”.
Phnom Penh is usually lighter with one long-term tenant. Phuket requires transparent booking records, invoices, operator reporting and control over discounts and owner-use blocks; otherwise the owner sees only the final payout.
Yes. A quality foreign-freehold condo in a strong location can access a broad international pool. A short remaining lease, hotel contract or complex villa land structure may be less liquid than a conventional Phnom Penh strata unit.
Compare downside cases. Stress Phnom Penh for a long vacancy and lower renewal rent. Stress Phuket for weaker airlift, lower ADR, low-season occupancy and high variable costs. Choose the model you can monitor rather than the one with the larger brochure percentage.
Primary documents and datasets, with issuing body and date.
The country-specific rules belong in one guide, not repeated in full on every comparison.
Foreign ownership and strata title · Taxes, fees and cost of ownership
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