There appears on occasion information on the number of foreigners living in Bangkok and therefore the amount of demand for housing (to either buy or rent) of houses/condos/apartments.

I recently read in a printed source that the number of WPs for foreigners in Bangkok (as of Feb. 2007) was 70,000. This figure does not include diplomats (don't need WPs to work) and retirees (self-explanatory). Therefore, this gives a good idea of the demand from foreigners for housing in Bangkok. I would suspect that most of these forld would be looking for renting/leasing options of various sorts rather than buyers.

There appears on occasion information on the number of foreigners living in Bangkok and therefore the amount of demand for housing (to either buy or rent) of houses/condos/apartments.

I recently read in a printed source that the number of WPs for foreigners in Bangkok (as of Feb. 2007) was 70,000. This figure does not include diplomats (don't need WPs to work) and retirees (self-explanatory). Therefore, this gives a good idea of the demand from foreigners for housing in Bangkok. I would suspect that most of these forld would be looking for renting/leasing options of various sorts rather than buyers.

Are you stating a fact or asking a question?

I was just repeating what info I obtained from a printed source in Bangkok. Just for info on the size of the potential expatriate housing market in Bangkok.

There appears on occasion information on the number of foreigners living in Bangkok and therefore the amount of demand for housing (to either buy or rent) of houses/condos/apartments.

I recently read in a printed source that the number of WPs for foreigners in Bangkok (as of Feb. 2007) was 70,000. This figure does not include diplomats (don't need WPs to work) and retirees (self-explanatory). Therefore, this gives a good idea of the demand from foreigners for housing in Bangkok. I would suspect that most of these forld would be looking for renting/leasing options of various sorts rather than buyers.

I thought the 70,000 WP's was for the whole of Thailand and not just Bangkok.

Not a very big figure when you think about it - of course I does not include all those retirees, those working from home on oversea's business's etc etc

Using the WP figure is pretty meaningless - its not like singapore with 879,000 Expats plus all the other foreign labour of work permits etc - its more accurate there but a completely different system.

I dont believe that figure for a second. That may cover the bangkok metropolis for western workers, but the umber of asian workers must at least triple that.

I like the idea of using those statistics for the purpose that you suggest, but it would need to be more concrete.

The source made it out that this 70k figure was for the Bangkok area (I assume they got the figure from the relevant gov't agency). I don't see why this figure wouldn't include ALL nationalities, as all are required to obtain a WP. It did state the figure did not include diplomats and retirees.

Agree it wouldn't include all those working from their homes on internet based business or some type of small scale import/export business. Just thought it was some figure to use to roughly gauge the size of the expatriate housing market.

OK, JonnieB, let's assume that the figure is 70,000, just for Bangkok. Heck, let's say it's twice that: 140,000. Now what? What do you expect to happen? There's plenty of housing currently avaialable.

There appears on occasion information on the number of foreigners living in Bangkok and therefore the amount of demand for housing (to either buy or rent) of houses/condos/apartments.

I recently read in a printed source that the number of WPs for foreigners in Bangkok (as of Feb. 2007) was 70,000. This figure does not include diplomats (don't need WPs to work) and retirees (self-explanatory). Therefore, this gives a good idea of the demand from foreigners for housing in Bangkok. I would suspect that most of these forld would be looking for renting/leasing options of various sorts rather than buyers.

I thought the 70,000 WP's was for the whole of Thailand and not just Bangkok.

Not a very big figure when you think about it - of course I does not include all those retirees, those working from home on oversea's business's etc etc

Using the WP figure is pretty meaningless - its not like singapore with 879,000 Expats plus all the other foreign labour of work permits etc - its more accurate there but a completely different system.

70,000WPs is for the entire country, all expats - including Japanese, Korean.....

In the zenith, 1995. Thailand issued 155,000WPs.

The 70,000 figure looks less stunning now....it's not even one half of what it used to be in go-go years.