Well, since I owned and ran a construction company for over 45 years, I do know a bit about how the housing market works, so I will not argue with what you have said. I also lived in a town that became popular with Californians. The average cost of housing doubled in less than 3 years after a write-up in Sunset magazine, due to an influx of well-to-do buyers (the same happened in the area around Sun Valley). From what I have read, there is a very large number of empty condos in Thailand, far more than a foreigner coming to Thailand and wanting a home could even make a dent in. So who were these condos built for if "Thais don't want them"? Was the business model to charge enough so that the place can still make a profit half empty? If so, that half is already paying too much. And those that bought them made a bad decision. Why buy a used condo when there are so many new ones AI Overview Thailand has an estimated 1.64 million vacant or unoccupied residential housing units nationwide, with condominiums making up the substantial majority of this surplus. [1, 2] Data from the Agency for Real Estate Affairs (AREA) and real estate market analysts highlight the key figures regarding empty and unsold condo stock: National Vacancy Estimates: Out of the 1.64 million empty homes across Thailand (defined as completed units with little to no electricity usage), condominiums represent roughly 58% of vacant stock in major urban centers. Nearly one in four new condo units (24.8%) stands empty due to over-speculation. [1, 2, 3] Bangkok Metropolitan Region: Greater Bangkok holds over 730,000 vacant housing units, where condominiums again comprise the largest share of unoccupied properties. [1, 2] Unsold Inventory Overhang: Separate data from Knight Frank Thailand estimates that Greater Bangkok alone faces an active backlog of around 350,000 unsold condominium units that developers are working to clear. [1, 2] I still see opening it up to foreign investment as only a bailout for speculators, and it does nothing for the Thai general public.
