Pattaya Net Rental Income Scenarios

A headline calculation can make a THB 16,000 monthly rent look like THB 192,000 of annual income before anything has happened. That is a useful first screen, but it is not owner cash flow because it assumes twelve paid months and ignores the operating stack.

The working profile is a 31 sqm one-bedroom at The Riviera Ocean Drive in Jomtien. A DDproperty listing dated 11 September 2026 asks THB 4.09 million for a furnished 31 sqm unit in foreign name and states a 50/50 transfer-fee split. The rent input comes from a separate PropertyHub listing for a 31 sqm one-bedroom offered at THB 16,000 per month on a one-year lease. They are matched units in the same building, not the same physical apartment and not evidence of a completed sale or signed tenancy.

Total invested capital is set at THB 4.19 million: the THB 4.09 million asking price plus an editable THB 100,000 buyer-side closing and initial setup allowance. The allowance is a scenario input, not a quoted government charge. Thailand's temporary 0.01% transfer and mortgage fee measure through 30 June 2027 is limited to qualifying Thai-national natural-person buyers, so it is not applied to the foreign-name case.

The model is strictly for long-term condominium letting. Short stays, hotel-style operations and villas have different legal and cost structures.

THB 16,000 is an asking rent for one month under the listing's stated terms. It does not prove the signed rent or twelve months of collection. September 2026 comparables in the same project help frame the input: PropertyHub carried several 31 sqm one-bedroom asks around THB 16,000–18,000, while a DDproperty 31 sqm listing was offered at THB 18,000. Those are still asking prices, not achieved rents.

Annual cash received is therefore built from paid months, not from an assumed occupancy percentage layered on top. At THB 16,000, eight paid months produce THB 128,000, ten produce THB 160,000, and twelve produce THB 192,000. The 8/10/12 cases are sensitivity tests; they are not Pattaya occupancy statistics.

Owner use belongs on a separate line. Two months reserved for the owner reduce rent availability, but they do not describe market vacancy. A renovation closure should be separated for the same reason.

Portal inventory cannot solve this gap. Duplicate agency listings, stale advertisements and units that have already been let make listing counts unsuitable as an occupancy proxy.

The first fixed line is building common expense. FazWaz currently publishes a THB 50 per sqm monthly common-area fee for The Riviera Ocean Drive, which equals THB 18,600 a year for 31 sqm. Because that is a secondary source, the juristic-person statement and registered condominium rules should control the actual figure; the Department of Lands confirms that co-owner common expenses are governed by the condominium's rules under the statutory framework.

Every other cost number in the scenario is deliberately labelled as an assumption. Management is set at 10% of rent actually collected. The model adds THB 16,000 for one tenant-placement cycle in a year, a THB 20,000 repair/replacement reserve and THB 4,000 for unit insurance. A further THB 1,000 is a rounded planning allowance for land and building tax; the real charge must come from the local assessment and depends on the tax base and use of the property.

Those fixed owner costs total THB 59,600 per year. The lease assumption places in-unit electricity and water on the tenant. If the owner pays internet, utilities, cleaning, payment charges or another recurring item, that cost belongs in the model as its own line.

Income tax is a separate calculation. Thailand's Revenue Department classifies rental income under Section 40(5), and its personal income tax guidance shows a 30% standard expense deduction for buildings and wharves. That is a tax deduction, not evidence that the owner actually spent 30% of the rent on operations.

Where rent is paid by a juristic person, a 5% withholding rule can apply in the circumstances set out by the Revenue Department. Withheld tax may be credited against the taxpayer's final liability, so treating it automatically as a permanent cash cost would distort the model. The scenario therefore stops before individual income tax because the owner's tax profile and payer are not defined.

A refundable tenant deposit is also kept outside rental income. It remains a returnable balance unless a valid contractual or legal basis arises to retain part of it.

The condo, rent and cost stack remain the same in all three cases. Total invested capital is THB 4.19 million, monthly rent is THB 16,000, management is 10% of cash collected, and fixed owner costs are THB 59,600 a year. Only paid months change, isolating the effect of vacancy.

Eight paid months produce THB 128,000 of collected rent. After THB 12,800 of management and the THB 59,600 fixed cost stack, pre-income-tax cash flow is THB 55,600, equal to 1.33% of total invested capital. At ten paid months the result becomes THB 84,400 and 2.01%; at twelve it becomes THB 113,200 and 2.70%.

The simple gross calculation tells a very different story. THB 16,000 multiplied by twelve is THB 192,000, or about 4.58% of the THB 4.19 million capital base. The operating model falls to 2.70% even in the twelve-paid-month case before individual income tax is calculated.

None of these percentages is a forecast for the building or Pattaya. A negotiated rent below the ask, a larger repair, extra owner-paid services or personal-use months would reduce the result; lower actual costs would move it the other way.

Eight, ten and twelve paid months are model inputs for sensitivity testing, not Pattaya occupancy statistics.

Each paid month contributes THB 14,400 toward the fixed cost stack after the 10% management fee: THB 16,000 × (1 − 10%). With THB 59,600 of annual fixed owner costs, the operating break-even point is about 4.14 paid months.

That threshold changes with the contract. If no new tenant is placed and the modeled THB 16,000 placement charge does not arise, the break-even point falls; a major repair or special building charge pushes it higher.

The 4.14-month figure is not capital payback. It only answers how many paid months cover the modeled annual operating costs; it does not recover the THB 4.09 million purchase price or the buyer-side startup allowance.