Koh Samui suits a buyer who wants a private villa on a smaller, calmer island than Phuket and who is comfortable with leasehold. Most of what foreigners buy here is a pool villa on land held under a registered lease of up to 30 years. The median asking price for landed property was THB 60,600 per sqm in mid-2025. The island's constraints are practical: one privately owned airport, a strained water supply and strict rules on hillside building.
What it is like to live in Koh Samui
Samui covers about 229 square kilometres in the Gulf of Thailand, with a 51 km ring road linking its beach towns. The north and east coasts hold most of the hotels, restaurants and services. The interior is steep and forested, and the south and west are quiet.
For a resident, the essentials are in the north-east: Bangkok Hospital Samui on the ring road at Chaweng, the International School of Samui in Bophut, and Central Samui for shopping. Golfers have Santiburi Samui Country Club, an 18-hole course in the hills above Maenam. The island has piers and moorings but no full-service marina of the kind found on Phuket. See healthcare and international schools for the national picture.
The districts of Koh Samui foreign buyers choose
| District | Character | Drive from the airport |
|---|---|---|
| Bophut | Fisherman's Village, families, hillside sea-view villas | About 15 minutes |
| Chaweng | The main town: beach, nightlife, hospitals | About 10 minutes |
| Choeng Mon | Sheltered bays and resort villas on the north-east tip | About 15 minutes |
| Lamai | Second beach town, wellness retreats, lower prices | 30 minutes or more |
| Maenam | Long quiet beach, golf, larger plots | 15 to 20 minutes |
| Bang Rak and Plai Laem | Big Buddha Beach and the north-east corner | About 10 minutes |
| Lipa Noi and Taling Ngam | The quiet west coast, facing the sunset | About 45 minutes |
Property in Koh Samui and what it costs
Samui is mostly villas. In Q1 2026, 113 residential projects were on sale, with 2,422 units worth more than THB 53.2 billion. Holiday villas made up 65 of those projects and more than half the value. Condominiums were just nine projects, mainly around Chaweng, Bophut and Lamai, though large ones: 1,214 units between them.
In mid-2025 the median asking price was THB 60,600 per sqm for landed property and THB 88,500 for condominiums. A three-bedroom villa of 250 to 350 sqm had a median price of THB 14.9 million. Condominiums averaged THB 60,000 to 80,000 per sqm in Q1 2026, with luxury projects above THB 200,000.
Tenure matters more than price. A foreigner cannot own land, so a villa is normally bought as a registered lease with separate ownership of the building. Leases of 10 to 30 years are the norm on the island. Read buying a villa in Thailand and freehold vs leasehold first, and avoid any structure that relies on Thai nominee shareholders: see Thai company ownership risks. A freehold condominium within the foreign quota is the alternative, though choice is limited.
What are you buying?
What is it for?
How will you hold it?
How long do you expect to hold?
Likely structure
Your answers decide what appears here.
Answer any of the four questions, in any order. This sheet then sets out the ownership structure that usually fits, what it means in practice, the points to take care over and the guides to read next.
What you will see
- What a foreign buyer can and cannot own
- How the structure changes with a spouse or a company
- What your purpose and holding period add
General guidance, not legal advice. Take independent legal advice before you commit.
Who buys in Koh Samui
Foreigners account for 85 to 90% of demand, with Europeans more than half, alongside buyers from Russia, France, Australia, China and Israel. Most buy for personal use and let the villa when they are away.
There were 3,055 villas on the rental market in 2025, after supply grew 34% in the year to January 2025. In 2024 the average nightly rate was THB 13,692 and average occupancy 56.6%, peaking at 76.2% in February and falling to 38.7% in September. More villas competing for guests pushed the average rate down 11% in the first quarter of 2025.
The returns of 8 to 10% you will hear quoted are developers' own estimates, not results. Letting a villa for under 30 days requires a hotel licence, and the 2025 raids cited breaches of the Hotel Act. See short-term rental rules and hotel-managed and rental pool schemes, and test your assumptions in the rental yield calculator.
Getting to and around Koh Samui
Samui International (USM) is owned by Bangkok Airways, and the island carried 65% of the airline's passengers in 2025. The cap was raised to 73 daily flights in 2024, and a terminal expansion due to run from 2026 to 2030 is planned to lift capacity to 6 million passengers a year. Direct international flights are few. Hong Kong and Singapore are served, and frequencies on both were reduced for November 2026.
The alternative is Surat Thani airport on the mainland and a ferry, about 3 hours 45 minutes from Chaweng. More in flights and getting around.
What to watch for in Koh Samui
Water first. In late July 2026 the Provincial Waterworks Authority began zoned rationing, with higher ground worst affected. Demand was about 34,000 cubic metres a day against some 16,000 arriving by pipeline. Ask any seller about wells, storage tanks and delivery costs.
Hillside plots second. Raids in July 2025 targeted villas that exceeded a six-metre height limit on slopes of 35 to 50%, and on steeper land where at least 75% must stay undeveloped. Have a lawyer check the building permit against what was built, as set out in title deeds and due diligence.
Weather third. The Gulf side is wettest from October to December, with November averaging about 445 mm. Our seasons tool compares the coasts.
