The Price Of A Rai

[harrry]

No one can shoot anything in Thailand on your land or anyone elses, 99% of guns are against the law even an air gun will see you locked up

We grow grass as a crop for our stock by the statement anyone can take my grass ? I would like to find out more from the village head how this works , as I would consider it theft

They can't take your crop, but they can gather other food on your land.

(bugs, frogs, mushrooms, etc.)

The laws says unless the owner forbids. You probably would have to let people know through the village headman or someone that you did not want them to do it before you can stop them.

[andycrosby]

It has not happend yet as far as I know, but very interesting as we have 3 rai under grass but I would like to double that next year more grass = more beef. Thank -you TP & Harrry

[loong]

we have been offered various parcels of land over the last 5 years, mostly less than 10 rai, and there is no consistancy in the asking price at all.

Cheapest has been about 15K per rai rising to around 50K. Substantially more if the land could be considered building land.

The vast majority of these plots remain unsold. There are simply no buyers who are willing to pay the amounts asked.

2 village plots of about half rai have been offered to us in recent months. Both are prone to waterlogging in the rainy season, 1 plot at 100k, the other 200k. Honestly, I think that when they want to sell, they just pluck a figure out of the air. Both remain unsold.

Agricultural land is rented at 500 - 800 Bt/Rai per year in this area.

[andycrosby]

Loong,

May I ask what area your in ? This is just out of interest as everything near me is snapped up with in a month of going on the open market

[OOTAI]

Here's my thoughts on the "the price of a rai".

My missus bought her first piece of land, about 15 rai, for 10,000/rai about 8 years ago and we thought it was expensive then.

A year later she bought some more, 38 rai at 12,500/rai.

The next lot we had to buy because the Aunty owed us money and was going to put thew land papers into the finance company which would have meant she (the wife) would lose her security, that cost 20,000/rai for 12 rai.

She then bought 20 rai (in her words "the best rice growing land") for 60,000/rai. After that she paid 100,000/rai for 4 rai so she could build her house. Later she bought some more (8 rai) for 62,500/rai.

Just a couple of months ago she asked my opinion on whether she should buy 10 rai with some rubber trees on it for 1.5million, my opinion was that it was too expensive but told her that its her money. She didn't buy it.

In the end I asked her for her opinion on why the price of land is rising so much and reckoned it was because youger people have been working in the cities and then coming home with some money and they want to buy some land, I am not so sure that that is the case.

My opinion is that most of the prices you hear are the people trying to prove they they got the best price and then the next person has to go one better and ask a higher price.

In the end most of the prices are bullsh*t.

The missus went to look at some land last year, I forget now what they were asking but shee ended up offering them about 60% and they went off to consider it. They came back and said they would take her offer but on the condition that she told no-one what she had paid them for it. In the end the missus changed her mind and didn't buy it because the land was surround by the vendors family and access etc could have got messy.

As for the question of access to a landlocked block, she was given 4 rai by her mother but it didn't have any access. It was totally surrounded by land owned by other members of her extended family but not one of the miserable bast**ds would sell her a 4m wide lane to be used for access. In the end she came to an agreement with her ex BIL and he agreed to give her access in exchange for 1rai of the land but he did so on the condition that she never enclose the access.

So in my humble opinion the price of a rai is whatever some twit or smart operator will pay for it. While I tend to agree with some of the comments here that the price will not go down, it should also be remembered that there are not a lot of Thai buyers with the ready cash available to buy it in a hurry should a person need to sell it.

[loong]

Hi Andy, I am 25Km North of Khon Kaen, on the route to Udon Thani. The people are mostly very poor and do not have the money to buy land. Probably why when any land is put up for sale, I get it offered to me because i am the only (perceived as rich) Farang in the area.

Funnily enough I have just in the last few hours been asked if I would like to rent 8 rai at 800 baht/rai. Note that I have been asked by the existing tenant, so he would apparently like to sublet it, don't know what he is actually paying per rai.. That land is currently growing cassava, so I am reading the Cassava thread as I may well consider risking a small amount on this although I have absolutely no knowledge on the subject.

I am well known in this immediate area because I have a small plot - or rather the missus has I grow vegetables for home consumption. Totally organic and my veg are much better than anybody else's. The locals get the impression that i am a farmer, which is maybe why they offer the land, but I am really a hobby kitchen gardener. The locals love my huge Russian black tomatoes

This area is mostly sugar cane and cassava, hardlty any rice

[samsiam]

We bought rice land for 500k per rai a few years ago.

[cardholder]

We bought rice land for 500k per rai a few years ago.

Why ?

[samsiam]

why what ??

[loong]

We bought rice land for 500k per rai a few years ago.

Why ?

why what ??

He asks why because nobody in their right mind would pay a half million per rai of rice paddy.

[sezze]

We bought rice land for 500k per rai a few years ago.

Why ?

why what ??

He asks why because nobody in their right mind would pay a half million per rai of rice paddy.

Like others have stated , depending on many factors . Pure 100% rice land , far away from anything , it would be a stupid nr . However , near where i stay ( close to Udon ) landprice now varies between 200k and 750k per rai , currently rice land . The highest prices are near Big C and Tesco , at the ring road of Udon , but they still are rice land and never used for anything else . I've been currently offered 25 rai of rubber tree land ( rubber tree in place and ready to produce ) for 550k total ( so under 30k /rai) but that is a bit further away . How long is a piece of string ....

[samsiam]

We bought rice land for 500k per rai a few years ago.

Why ?

why what ??

He asks why because nobody in their right mind would pay a half million per rai of rice paddy.

Why not exactly ??

[Livinginexile]

David 48 it does not matter what I write I say black you say white on everything ..

Where did we talk about buildings ? we were talking about farm land

How many Rai do you own ? Its ok I know the answer

In Thailand the price has never gone down in the last 20 years .. Anyone known land prices to fall ?

Ive seen it climb by up to 1000% in places and what has my statement got to do with the USA or what you are saying is because in the USA this happened it will happen here BS

stick to the facts Land prices will climb here for the next 20 years. Thailand is not a 3rd world country and is not conected to the USA

Yes why is he quoting US prices?!! absolutely no relevance whatsoever to Thailand.

Thai rural land prices (actually all land) has steadily risen year on year.

[yao572]

In our area, just inside Buriram province, it is around 100k/rai and around 450-600k/12rai. That is with no crops/trees etc. It is only going up, as I started buying at 20k/rai 10 years ago. Highway access is around 20-30% dearer.

[samsiam]

Yeah...500k was not bad really for us.

[Gary A]

Some time back a Thai Visa poster advertised a rai of land in Loei province. He was asking about 980,000 baht. I posted and asked him if he possibly had one too many zeros in that figure. There was no reply. I would guess that he had paid way too much and was trying to get his money back.

If you want to build a home and have found what you consider the perfect location, that land is worth whatever you are willing to pay for it. Good rice growing land rents for about 800 baht per rai per year. The payback for land that cost you even 40,000 baht per rai makes for a very poor investment.

[samsiam]

I bought 8 rai at that price.

It is all relative.....500k a rai was not too much in reality.

We have had had to buy rice for 4 years.

[TommoPhysicist]

If you want to build a home and have found what you consider the perfect location, that land is worth whatever you are willing to pay for it. Good rice growing land rents for about 800 baht per rai per year. The payback for land that cost you even 40,000 baht per rai makes for a very poor investment.

With a ROI of 800bht/pa, it would seem foolish to pay more than 20k per rai, I can make that on 10k in 100% secure bonds.

[somo]

I bought 8 rai at that price.

It is all relative.....500k a rai was not too much in reality.

We have had had to buy rice for 4 years.

You must be mad. It's going to take you over 50 years to get your money back.

[cardholder]

Yeah...500k was not bad really for us.

I think you are trying to take the p!ss (and failing) - nobody is biting.

No wonder you enjoy Songkran so much.

[samsiam]

Yeah...500k was not bad really for us.

I think you are trying to take the p!ss (and failing) - nobody is biting.

No wonder you enjoy Songkran so much.

lol....yes I love songkran....but that is irrelevant as to whether our land is/was worth the 500k we paid for it or not.

[samsiam]

I bought 8 rai at that price.

It is all relative.....500k a rai was not too much in reality.

We have had had to buy rice for 4 years.

You must be mad. It's going to take you over 50 years to get your money back.

Why is that ??.....land goes up in value.... correct ??......if it is bought at the right price and right location ...correct ??

[slapout]

Future land values are tough to predict. The economic times,and potential development have a big bearing, as does the current price of farm product, current weather cycle, and labor (machinery costs). Then throw in supply and DEMAND by potential investors/buyers, where supply is fixed, and I can see a lot of unknowns with only one fixed number (land) to plug into the formula.

Not being real current on the latest math breakthroughs, I still doubt that anyone can forcast/solve a seven part problem with only one known input. It has been my experience that most farm land purchases are made with the buyers offspring/grandchildren in mind, as being the benificaries.

[ChoakMyDee]

We just bought 6 Rai of land for 380K Baht used for rice farming. It is 1 K outside a village, 1 hour from Sakon Nakhon. It is ~500 meters down a dirt road from a paved highway.

[somo]

We just bought 6 Rai of land for 380K Baht used for rice farming. It is 1 K outside a village, 1 hour from Sakon Nakhon. It is ~500 meters down a dirt road from a paved highway.

Why?

[jamescollister]

Perhaps a different way of looking at the land value may be in order. A Thai family with a small good farm will have a place to live, food to eat and a bit of cash coming in. Not a high living standard, but a living just the same. Now think how much it would cost you to buy a farm in your home country that would feed, house and take care of you for life. Add to that, land is not a one generation investment, I have 2 kids and long after I have turned up my toes my kids will still have a home and farm to fall back on.

As I see it the world economy could fall and millions could be in trouble, but we will always have a place to live and food on the table. Like most people I spent my life working for others and was always just a few pay cheques from poverty. A least now if it all goes bad we will not end up under a bridge or sleeping in a car.

I would say that land is worth what you think it will give you in the long term not how much short term it will return. Difference between a farmer and an investor. Jim

[TommoPhysicist]

I would say that land is worth what you think it will give you in the long term not how much short term it will return. Difference between a farmer and an investor. Jim

If you/they can hold onto it in the situation you just described.

Hungry locals with machetes may think otherwise.

Anyway, I had a farm and plenty of land in the west, it was taken away from me with ease.

But

I would value a shotgun and 1000 cartridges, more than the land, if people in general started getting hungry.

Edited April 9, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[tingtong]

Tommy, more hungry locals are in the cities, than in the villages, it seems.

In the area where i live, while rural and poor, i dont see beggers, and shanks like under the flyovers in the city....perhaps since most villagers has some land, or relatives with land, i dont see starving. or i am just blind.

i am sure those throwing out huge numbers for (formal) ricefields didnt buy those lands to farm rice for a living. although while i can not believe such stupidity, it doesnt mean it couldnt exist. however it was said that a meager less than 1% return on investment to a per se ricefield wouldnt be the greatest, as most land that had prices trully run up were not those middle of nowhere no title dirt road access ricelands, but those near to village, on a paved road, with electricity, etc....

in my area, Ban Thaen, prices for dirt road access lands few km's out of the village sell around 40k/rai.

on the main road, just next to the village the asking price is 250k/rai...didnt sell for a while that 3 rai plot, though...but they might not be in a hurry.

nearer to my FiL area, just off Phu Wiang 1 rai filled, ready to build on askin price is 550k...again, there around 1.5 yr with no sell...i woould consider half that price maybe...

all the above price examples i gave are for chatote title land.

so, i dont think one needs to be concerned about the prices that thrown around for so called rice fields for 500k/rai. and i dont think that what the OP cared. else soon some will come and brag that just bought a Bangna plot for 10 mill/rai....something really have nothing to do with farming but the fact that it is land.

again if someone wants to grow rice on a 10 mil/rai land, go ahead and have fun. same goes for all that pays over 100k in my world.

and if not for farming in mind, than just say so, but dont mix it in the same category.

[ChoakMyDee]

We just bought 6 Rai of land for 380K Baht used for rice farming. It is 1 K outside a village, 1 hour from Sakon Nakhon. It is ~500 meters down a dirt road from a paved highway.

Why?

For rice.

[TommoPhysicist]

......... and if not for farming in mind, than just say so, but dont mix it in the same category.

I recently met a guy, bought 100 rai in his g/fs name @ 100k/rai for rice growing somewhere in Issan (5 years ago).

Then bought her two tractors to farm it.

Total investment around 12 million baht. They were together for 3 years then split up, she kept the lot.

He said it seemed like a good investment, I agreed, it was a very good investment for her.