Mr. Khan says homes priced below   10 million baht (about $290,000) are selling, but the market above that   threshold is stagnant, even in Hua Hin and Bangkok, where some investors are   still buying at the lower end. The large expatriate community in Bangkok mostly   revolves around the international businesses there, said David Gray, the   director of East Coast Real Estate, based in Pattaya, and there is not much of a   high-end second-home market in the city itself.

Currency fluctuations   are also affecting the Thai second-home market, according to Mr. Gray. He said   the baht’s relative strength against foreign currencies, including the ruble,   the British pound and the Australian dollar, was motivating cash-strapped   foreign second-home-owners to sell their Thai holdings. “A lot of people are   cashing in on the exchange rate right now,” he said. “People can take much less   for their homes and still not lose anything.”

Second homes in Phuket   cost about twice as much as comparable homes in Pattaya, Mr. Gray said, because   Phuket is an island and developable land is more limited. He is seeing more   second-home-owners moving away from the beach resorts and into the countryside,   many building retirement homes. North of Bangkok, for example, it is possible to   find an acre for a couple of thousand dollars. “For Thailand, that’s cheap,” he   said.

WHO BUYS IN PATTAYA

Thailand attracts buyers from all over   the world, according to Mr. Gray. He has sold properties to Europeans, Americans   and Australians, as well as people from other Asian countries. Until a few years   ago, British and German buyers were the most prevalent, but interest from German   as well as Russian buyers has decreased, he said. “Americans seem to be buying   at the moment,” he added, “or whoever holds American dollars,” because the   dollar is relatively strong.

BUYING BASICS

Foreigners cannot own   stand-alone houses in Thailand, but there are a number of common ways to work   around that stricture. Mr. Gray says foreigners can set up a Thai company   through which to buy property (though new regulations may soon make this method   more difficult). It costs 30,000 to 50,000 baht (about $880 to $1,460) to set up   a company for this purpose, Mr. Gray said, and running costs after that come to   about 20,000 baht (about $590) per year for accounting fees and taxes.

Many foreigners buy property in the name of a Thai person they trust,   according to Mr. Gray. They can then lease the property back from the official   owner for up to 30 years. The lease can be renewed at the end of its term, Mr.   Gray said.

Foreigners are permitted to own a condominium or apartment   outright, as long as more than half the development is owned by a Thai entity.   “Any building can be up to 49 percent foreign owned,” Mr. Gray said. “There has   to be majority Thai ownership in the building.”

When property changes   hands, the buyer pays transfer taxes, fees and stamp duties to the local land   officials. Mr. Gray says these costs are normally 5 to 6 percent of the declared   value of the property. (Declared value is determined by the government, and is   usually 50 to 60 percent of market value.) But Mr. Gray also said that the   government, in an attempt to stimulate the market, had reduced all taxes and   fees to less than 1 percent of declared value until April 2010. The seller pays   the real estate agent’s commission, which ranges from 3 to 5 percent of the sale   price.