The short answer: yes, with conditions
Foreigners can legally own a condominium unit in Thailand in freehold — the same ownership a Thai national would have — under the Condominium Act. This is the one major exception to Thailand's general restriction on foreign land ownership: because a condo unit isn't land, it can be sold to a non-Thai buyer outright.
The catch is the foreign-ownership quota. At least 51% of the total saleable floor area in any single condominium building must be held by Thai nationals or Thai entities. Foreigners can collectively own up to 49%. Popular buildings along the BTS corridor often fill their foreign quota, so quota availability is one of the first things to check when you shortlist a unit — our team checks it before every viewing on a foreign-quota building.
How the money has to move
To register foreign ownership at the Land Department, you'll need a Foreign Exchange Transaction (FET) form, issued by a Thai bank once the full purchase amount has arrived from overseas in foreign currency and been converted to Thai baht. This paper trail proves the funds originated abroad — a requirement that exists specifically to support foreign freehold condo ownership.
In practice: transfer the purchase price from your home country account to a Thai bank account, in USD, GBP, EUR or another foreign currency (not THB), and keep every transfer confirmation. Your bank issues the FET (or a credit note for transfers under USD 50,000) once the funds have cleared.
Houses and land work differently
Foreigners generally cannot own land freehold in Thailand. If you want a house rather than a condo, the common structures are a long-term leasehold (typically up to 30 years, renewable by agreement) on the land with freehold ownership of the structure itself, or holding land through a Thai-majority company set up for genuine business purposes — not as a nominee workaround, which is illegal and actively enforced against.
If a house purchase is what you're after, we'll walk you through leasehold terms property by property — the renewal language matters as much as the headline lease length.
What we handle for you
Every condo listing on our site is checked for foreign-quota availability before we schedule a viewing, and we coordinate with your bank and the developer's transfer department on the FET paperwork. If you're weighing a purchase against renting first, our rent-vs-buy calculator is a useful starting point, and if you'd rather talk it through, reach out here and we'll take you through the specifics for the building you have in mind.