Permanent Residency for buying a Condo?

[CanadaSam]

The Deputy Prime Minister just said that the Government is "considering the option of granting permanent residence to buyers of condominium units, provided applicants do not mortgage, sell or transfer this asset for five years after purchase".

 

Does anybody have more details regarding this, and what are your thoughts/opinions about it?

 

https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30396671

[HampiK]

That would be to good to be true!
And if true then probably only for new Investments made after the new rules. Anyway it's only an idea  and if this will ever come into effect is another story. They also not told on how high the price have to be in minimum. So there are many open questions.

[Peterw42]

Its only a proposal at this stage but sounds great if it comes about. It was actually supposed to be part of the deal when foreign quota condos were first introduced but got scrapped at the last minute.

It makes a lot of sense, a huge cash injection, foreign currency inflow, strengthens the baht, excess stock of condos gets cleared, cashed up expats will immigrate.

I imagine , if it is introduced, it will be ruined with some ridiculous criteria, condo must be 50m baht or similar, then nobody will qualify.

Edited October 30, 2020 by Peterw42

[Sheryl]

it is still just a proposal, may not happen and if it does the details are yet to be determined but will undoubtedly include a minimum value which is likely to be pretty high.

 

Aside from what the minimum purchase price has to be another major consideration is whether they will waive the current requirement that anyone applying PR -- on any grounds -- must have worked in Thailand and paid taxes here. That is the big obstacle for many of us.

[Kerryd]

Can't see it happening, unless they put a minimum value of say, 10 million, on it. Most of their measures to "increase" tourism lately have been aimed at the wealthy, not the average, class of tourist.
Like the Medical Visa (that requires you to keep millions in the bank, locked in, for years).
The STV visas (admittedly aimed at the "high end" tourist).
The Elite Card business they are still flogging where even the cheapest option works out to basically paying 100,000 per year and having nothing to show for it at the end of that period. Except maybe the option to renew it for another 5 years (for another 500,000 baht). Not what I'd say is meant for the "average" tourist.

As an example of how they are thinking (from the same Nation article in the OP):
"The minister added that the government will also devise measures to encourage foreigners to spend at least Bt100,000 per person from the current average of Bt50,000."

I suspect someone wants to flog high end condo projects in select areas (maybe Bangkok and places like Hua Hin) and are hoping to use the prospect of PR to lure people (i.e. wealthy Chinese) in. 

Little chance it will be retroactive either as that will do nothing to lure in new money. (And it says "for buying a condo" - not "for those who already have one".)
From the same article: "The centre is considering the option of granting permanent residence to buyers of condominium units," (my underlining).

Nothing at all about people who already own one. I'm sure though that if the measure passes, there will be loopholes that people (and "agents") will gleefully exploit in a flash.

[papersource]

Some Thai person I know called BOI for me and asked about this and heard it was going to happen soon (this was a month ago). But I think the political situation has put a halt to rolling out any new program of almost any kind.  
 

also agree that it is likely to be a minimum of 10 million baht (hopefully not more). It would be great if it was less but we will just have to wait and see. I do a google search on this every day so I really want it badly. But I have resigned myself to accepting that if it does happen it might not be rolled out until next year or until the politics stabilize. 

[nobodysfriend]

6 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

Can't see it happening, unless they put a minimum value of say, 10 million, on it. Most of their measures to "increase" tourism lately have been aimed at the wealthy, not the average, class of tourist.

You nailed it down there .

The income is low , they do not want ' cheap charlies ' any more .

If income generated by tourism stays low , and it looks like it will ... then they will offer certain advantages to the ones who bring in lots of money .

PR for Condo buyers , and , may be , and this would be the most secure way to attract the big spenders , the permission to actually own a rai ( or more ) of land .

Thailand has not too many problems with Covid , I am sure many would like to stay here on a permanent basis , but the laws are just designed to scare them away , instead of attracting them . That might change when more money is missing in the coffers of the wealthy .

[papersource]

I think this is more aimed attracting big money from HK and China, not regular falangs. 
 

the Thai banks are going to be in trouble next year. I am not sure of the size of the unsold condo glut but it might be something like 60,000 units or even higher maybe 100,000 units as lots of Chinese booked units and stopped making payments when Covid struck. And builders are still breaking ground on projects that are so far advanced that they can not stop even though they want to. The glut is growing. Not to mention all the Thai loans for houses and credit cards that are defaulting. The banks will be in panic mode soon and demand this program.
 

can you imagine how many rich and middle class HK and Chinese people would love to have permanent residence in Thailand (not some cheesy tourist visa “elite card”) but a real permanent residence outside of China ??? 

 

I think that if the government launches this program they will sell out all unsold condos very quickly at full price. Lots of buyers from HK will just book 4 condos at 2.5 million baht each and never bother to look at them until they show up to get their permanent residence card. There will be a queue in HK at shows to buy Thai condos for permanent residence.

[4MyEgo]

I heard on the grapevine that it would start at around 9 million baht, either way, I wouldn't be interested in PR as the annual marriage extension suites me down to the ground, i.e. 1,900 baht per annum, yes still no real security, and if I had to go, well that wouldn't take too long to organise.

 

It should be noted that PR can also be revoked by simply not getting a re-entry permit if you head off overseas, oh no, sh-t happens, and I would imagine the government could withdraw PR at any time if it deemed it appropriate, e.g. there would be conditions attached to any PR anywhere in the world, that said, citizenship cannot be cancelled, i.e. if you were born in the country you received your citizenship from, and that is your fall back position, everything else is permanent, but temporary the way I see it.

 

 

[newnative]

     Requiring the purchase of a 10MB or more condo is way too high.  My partner and I have bought 22 condos in Thailand in the last 10 years, sold 20 of them, so we normally don't have any qualms about purchasing condos in Thailand.  But, we would never pay 10MB for a single condo, although we have over 10MB invested right now in 2 condos.  10MB is a lot of money for us and I imagine it is for many others, as well.  We would never dump 10MB into one basket, especially with Covid, even if it did come with a PR.  

    The idea should be to get lots of people to come to Thailand to live, and spend their money, while at the same time reviving the condo market. It would be much more beneficial all the way around if there were a much lower condo purchase price--more people would be able to buy into the program and more unsold condo stock would be moved.  

[cnx355]

I hope they keep the crimimnal records check to obtain PR to avoid becoming a den for criminals !

 

Also, are they  going to be on a <pending issue stamp> for 5 years waiting for the PR ?

 

Middle class people are not <cheap charlie> they have enought to pay for their retirement but can not buy 50 M Bahts condo and Benz. And there is a lot of them as expats and travellers that bring regular income in the country,  more than the Millionaires.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike Teavee]

10Million THB would be ok & as I'm currently considering buying a Condo at around 6-8 Million mark, wouldn't be too much of a stretch but it wouldn't surprise me if the minimum purchase value was set at $1Million USD (approx 33 Million THB) which is way out of my price bracket.  

 

 

[wwest5829]

See, that is why I plan to come back as a tall, good looking, healthy, wealthy man in my next life. This life, only made it from being raised blue collar to retiring as a Professor of History better able to afford a working middle class retirement $2400.00 USD a month in Thailand. 

[Firefan]

Technically the current 10M Baht investment visa (new condo, Thai developer Etc.) already give the buyer the right to stay as long as they own the condo.

I agree this is more targeted towards Chinese than anything, as PR does come with a bit more safety than the investment visa.