Just another way the government and media failed them completely - wave after wave of "the tourists are coming" to spark their hopes, while in reality the millions promised are nowhere to be seen. Sadly though this translates to a distorted market where landlords sit on empty condos expecting to be paid premium rent, while the few renters are unwilling to pay those rents. In my condo I rented a unit for 15k a few months back (and even that is severely overpriced) - now I see ads for same size units for 18-20k. The only real change in demand between now and then is that now there is much *less* demand due to Russian tourists gone.
In my previous condo the situation is reversed - the unit I used to pay 15k for is now being offered for 7-8k - it took them a couple hard years to realize no one is renting, but now they're finally down to reality. The kicker though is that even though Bangkok condo rent is down 30-50% - condo prices have only gone slightly down (if at all) - yields are terrible if you want to invest (why would you?).
Generally I would prefer stocks and real estate to gold because the former two are producing yields, gold doesn't, but in Thailand there's a ton of reasons why you shouldn't buy, especially right now. Unless some miracle happens, Thai real estate is due for at least a 50% correction IMHO. With rising interest rates and empty units, landlords will eventually be forced to come down to reality and sell.