The intensified crackdown on nominee ownership since late last year, coupled with the global economic downturn, is expected to weaken foreign purchasing power and dampen overseas property demand in 2025.
Kamonpop Veerapala, president of the Government Housing Bank and acting director-general of the Real Estate Information Center (REIC), said condo transfers to foreigners dropped year-on-year in four of the past six quarters.
"It marked the first year-on-year decline since Thailand reopened post-pandemic, following six consecutive quarters of growth," he said.
The post-pandemic slowdown began in the fourth quarter of 2023, with a slight 0.5% decline from the corresponding period of 2022.
This was followed by a 4.3% rebound in the first quarter of 2024, then a 6.8% drop in the second quarter.
Growth returned in the third quarter of 2024 with an 11.6% increase, but this was followed by two consecutive declines: a 5% drop in the fourth quarter of 2024, and a further 0.5% decrease in the first quarter of 2025.
Last year, the number of condo units transferred to foreign nationals across the country reached 14,573, marking a slight increase of 0.9% from 2023. However, the total value declined by 6.8% to 68.1 billion baht.
According to the REIC, in the first quarter of 2025, a total of 3,919 condo units were transferred to foreign buyers, with a combined value of 16.4 billion baht, representing a decline of 0.5% in terms of the number of units and 9% in value year-on-year.
Despite these decreases, the proportion of foreign ownership compared to Thai ownership rose.
By unit count, its share climbed to 18% in the first quarter of 2025 from 16.7% in the corresponding period of 2024 and 10.7% in the fourth quarter of 2024.
In terms of value, the share increased to 29.3% from 28.6% and 19.9%, respectively.
The top three nationalities receiving the largest number of condo transfers in the first quarter of 2025 remained unchanged: China at 38%, Myanmar at 11% and Russia at 7% -- similar to the fourth quarter of 2024, with 33%, 9% and 7%, respectively.
Fourth to eighth places shifted slightly among the five nationalities. In the first quarter of 2025, Taiwan was in fourth place, followed by France, the US, the UK and Germany.
This contrasted with the first quarter of 2024, where the order was the US (fourth), Germany (fifth), Taiwan (sixth), France (seventh) and the UK (eighth).
Singapore ranked ninth in the first quarter of 2025, followed by Australia, whereas in the fourth quarter of 2024, Australia preceded Singapore.
The average price per unit transferred to foreign buyers in the first quarter of 2025 was 4.2 million baht, with an average unit size of 41.9 square metres.