The comparison · 8 home markets
Foreign investors are stuck with what their home jurisdiction allows. SCPI, BTL, Direkt-Immobilien, REITs, 1031 exchanges, ABSD-loaded Singapore property, sanctions-restricted Russian capital · each carries a distinct yield ceiling, tax drag, and access constraint.
Bangkok foreign-quota property is none of those things. It sits outside the regulatory gravity that compresses returns in your home market. This page is the country-by-country honest comparison.
Methodology
Yields
Net of taxes, fees, and management costs in the home jurisdiction. Bangkok yields use our underwriter (5 to 6% net at standard 20% Maison Siam fees, 30% expense deduction).
Tax drag
Headline rates apply to a typical 1.5M EUR / GBP / USD HNW investor. Wealth, inheritance, and disposal taxes are included where they meaningfully shape after-tax returns.
Honesty cap
We name where Thai property is genuinely worse than the home alternative (FX-control friction on outbound, contract-enforcement variability outside prime). The frame is comparison, not advocacy.
FR
01 of 08 · France
Home alternatives
SCPI · LMNP · Pinel · French direct property · life-insurance unit-linked
Real net yield at home
3 to 3.5% net (SCPI after fees) · 2 to 3% net (Paris direct)
Tax and structural drag
IFI wealth tax 0.5 to 1.5% above €1.3M of French RE · IHT 45 to 60% beyond €100K to children · prélèvements sociaux 17.2% on rental income · SCPI entry fees 8 to 10%
Why Bangkok is structurally different
5 to 6% net yield · IFI does not apply to Thai-located property in most structures (declared but excluded from the base) · IHT exemption up to ~100M THB (~€2.6M) · standard 30% expense deduction · clean repatriation through FETF
The product gap
Your French private banker cannot put you into a Bangkok foreign-quota condo. There is no SCPI Thai equivalent, no Pinel-style Bangkok wrapper, no life-insurance unit linked to Thai RE. The product is structurally inaccessible from France.
DE
02 of 08 · Germany
Home alternatives
Direkt-Immobilien · Immobilienfonds · Bausparen · German REITs · ETFs
Real net yield at home
2 to 3% net (Munich, Hamburg, Berlin direct) · 2 to 3% (open-ended Immobilienfonds)
Tax and structural drag
Spekulationssteuer (full income tax on gains under 10y holding) · Erbschaftsteuer up to 50% · KAP-tax 25%+Soli on capital gains · Grunderwerbsteuer 3.5 to 6.5% on entry
Why Bangkok is structurally different
Higher absolute yield · German Spekulationssteuer does not apply to foreign-located property held in your name · Thai withholding on disposal is favorable past 5 years · EUR/THB diversification · Bangkok unit cost is roughly 1/2 of Munich prime per sqm
The product gap
German Sparkassen and private banks do not distribute Thai property. Immobilienfonds are constrained to EU domiciles. The diversification narrative is constantly told in financial advice but the product to execute it is missing.
UK
03 of 08 · United Kingdom
Home alternatives
Buy-to-Let (post-Section 24) · ISAs · SIPPs · UK REITs · property funds
Real net yield at home
0 to 2% net for many BTL holders post-Section 24 · 3 to 4% gross from REITs
Tax and structural drag
Section 24 strips full mortgage-interest deduction · SDLT 3% surcharge on additional dwellings + 2% non-resident surcharge · IHT 40% above £325K threshold · CGT on disposal 18 to 28%
Why Bangkok is structurally different
Full 30% expense deduction (Thai standard) · no Section 24 equivalent · no SDLT-style additional surcharge for foreigners on a foreign-quota condo · clean FETF repatriation · Thai-UK double-tax treaty in force since 1981 prevents double taxation
The product gap
Your UK BTL agent cannot source Bangkok inventory. Your IFA cannot put a Thai condo in your SIPP (overseas direct RE is excluded). UK property platforms do not list Thai stock. The market is invisible to UK distribution.
US
04 of 08 · United States
Home alternatives
REITs · 1031 exchanges · syndications · direct US residential and commercial
Real net yield at home
3 to 4% (REITs) · 4 to 6% gross (direct US residential, lower net after tax stack)
Tax and structural drag
Federal + state income tax stack on rental · 1031 exchange domestic-only · estate tax above $13.6M federal threshold · property tax 1 to 3% annually depending on state
Why Bangkok is structurally different
Genuine geographic and currency diversification · 1031 cannot do this · low Thai property tax (no annual ad-valorem at meaningful rates for residential) · Thai-US double-tax treaty since 1996 · standard FETF repatriation · the ability to be a non-resident landlord without state-tax overhead
The product gap
US RIAs cannot allocate to Thai direct RE. Your 1031 chain is locked to US property. The international RE syndications that do exist are concentrated in Mexico, Caribbean, or Costa Rica. Bangkok is structurally absent from the US distribution stack.
CN-HK
05 of 08 · China and Hong Kong
Home alternatives
Mainland: domestic property (70-year land lease, demand crisis post-2021) · QFII / Connect for offshore allocation · HK: domestic property at extreme prices
Real net yield at home
Mainland: distressed, often negative real · HK: 2 to 2.5% gross at very high entry price
Tax and structural drag
Mainland: USD 50K/year individual outbound limit · capital controls on RE outbound · HK: smallest, most expensive housing in developed Asia · post-2020 political uncertainty driving capital flight
Why Bangkok is structurally different
Capital escape valve for both Mainland (via legal channels including BOI investment, Privilege visa, and family-office routing) and HK (no controls) · 1/8 the price per sqm of HK prime · foreign-quota safe haven · ASEAN positioning · stronger property rights than Mainland 70-year lease structure
The product gap
Mainland: getting capital out legitimately is the entire challenge, and Thailand sits inside permitted Belt-and-Road and ASEAN frameworks · HK: emigration-pressured capital is already flowing to Singapore (priced out by ABSD) and ASEAN, of which Thailand is the cheapest investment-grade option.
SG
06 of 08 · Singapore
Home alternatives
Local SG property (with ABSD) · S-REITs · regional ETFs · SGX equities
Real net yield at home
1 to 2% net effective post-ABSD on SG residential · 4 to 5% on S-REITs
Tax and structural drag
ABSD 60% additional buyer's stamp duty for foreigners on residential · 20% for SG citizens on second home · SG residential micro-units at extreme prices · SSD 4 to 12% on disposal within 4 years
Why Bangkok is structurally different
Zero ABSD-equivalent on Thai foreign-quota condo · 1/4 of Singapore prime price for 2 to 3 times the unit area · same-region access · no SSD analog · standard 30% expense deduction · easier visa pathways (LTR, Privilege) than SG PR
The product gap
Singapore's RE distribution layer is fully domestic, ABSD-padded, and saturated. S-REITs are listed equities, not direct property. The ASEAN-diversification thesis is told constantly by SG private banks but the product to execute it is concentrated in Australia and Mainland China rather than Thailand.
JP
07 of 08 · Japan
Home alternatives
Tokyo / Osaka direct property · J-REITs · domestic property funds
Real net yield at home
2 to 3% net (Tokyo central) · 3 to 4% (J-REITs)
Tax and structural drag
BoJ rate normalization risk on yields · JPY structural weakness against USD and THB · Japanese inheritance tax 30 to 55% · property registration tax + acquisition tax 4%+
Why Bangkok is structurally different
Higher absolute yield than Tokyo · currency optionality (THB diverged positively from JPY over 5 years) · cross-Asian exposure · cheaper unit prices than Tokyo central · Thai-Japan double-tax treaty in force
The product gap
Japanese RE distribution focuses on domestic Tokyo/Osaka and US Hawaii/California. Thailand is rarely positioned as a Japanese-investor product despite the structural fit (older Japanese retirees + Thai healthcare + LTR Wealthy Pensioner pathway).
RU
08 of 08 · Russia and CIS
Home alternatives
Cut off from EU/UK/US property since 2022 · domestic property under capital pressure · Dubai, Türkiye, Phuket, Bangkok the active alternatives
Real net yield at home
Domestic: distressed under capital flight pressure · cross-border: severely restricted
Tax and structural drag
Sanctions block traditional Western RE · banking corridors limited · KYC bar for cross-border purchase has tightened · ruble volatility
Why Bangkok is structurally different
Thailand still accepts Russian and CIS capital with proper KYC · large existing community in Phuket and Bangkok provides legal and operational infrastructure · Thai banks (Bangkok Bank, UOB Thai) compliant but not blocking · property pricing has not been arbitraged up by Russian flows the way Dubai has been
The product gap
The active Russian / CIS investor channels for Thai RE are run by intermediaries with variable transparency. The product itself works · the distribution layer needs reputable foreign-investor counterparts.
The access gap · what Khorna actually bridges
The asset class itself
Foreign-quota Bangkok condos. Stable since 1979. Title-deed ownership in your own name. Repatriation via FETF. Yield 5 to 6% net. Capital appreciation 6 to 9% per year over the past 7. None of this is exotic from a structural standpoint · the structure is more transparent than many Western RE wrappers. But your home-country distribution does not carry it.
The information layer
Your home-country financial press does not cover Bangkok property. Your bank's research desk does not produce reports on it. There is no equivalent of the Knight Frank or Savills Bangkok prime report landing in your private banker's inbox. The information asymmetry is itself why the discount has persisted.
The execution layer
Even when an investor wants Thai property, they typically lack: a Thai bank counterparty, a vetted developer relationship, foreign-quota verification process, due-diligence on title and juristic-person condition, FETF mechanics, post-purchase rental management. This is what we are.
The exit layer
When you eventually sell, the FETF you used to buy is what allows you to repatriate proceeds in foreign currency. Without proper documentation at entry, you cannot cleanly exit. We coordinate this end-to-end so that the exit is as smooth as the entry.
Adjacent reading
Sourced from
All citations published in-line · methodology at /how-we-score
Why investors trust Khorna
Projects underwritten
50+
Across 11 prime Bangkok corridors
Data refreshed
Weekly
DDproperty asking-price scrape · live
Net yield audited
5 to 7%
Per project, not portfolio average
Buyer-side alignment
100%
We earn from developer side, not from you
Founder credential
Built by ex-Société Générale Hong Kong investment banker, top-ranked at FazWaz Thailand.
Alexandre Beaumont leads Khorna's underwriting and developer-relationship work. Twelve years of cross-border investment-banking discipline applied to Bangkok property. Etienne Alcouffe builds the data + product layer · live FX, scraped market data, proprietary scoring.
About the team →Methodology
Every data table on this site cites its source. Bangkok prime pricing scraped weekly from DDproperty + verified against CBRE Thailand + JLL quarterly reports. FX from Frankfurter API. Sovereign and macro from S&P / Fitch / Moody's published ratings. School and hospital data from registries (JCI, AEFE, Auslandsschulwesen, British Schools Overseas, Ookla Speedtest).
Khorna Score is published openly · 6-component breakdown on every project page. Khorna Verdict reasoning is published openly. We disclose where the convergence-thesis math has uncertainty.
See the methodology →Talk to us
Tell us your home country, your current allocation, and your timeline. We model your existing yield and tax stack against a Bangkok-prime allocation · honest numbers, both sides.