Thailand narrows official land price gap ahead of 2027 reset

Thailand's Treasury Department plans to shrink the gap between official land appraisal prices and actual market prices. The current official appraisal sits 30% to 40% below market value. A 20% to 25% gap is the new target, director-general Akkaruth Sandhyananda said.

Landowners gain the most from the change. They can pledge plots as loan collateral and get higher loan amounts from banks. The narrower spread also means higher annual land and building tax bills. Buyers and sellers will pay a larger transfer fee. The department calculates that levy based on the official appraisal price.

The international benchmark is an official appraisal roughly 15% below market value, Mr. Akkaruth noted. Thailand's current gap of 30% to 40% is about double that standard.

The department reappraises land every four years. Current rates run through 2026. A new schedule takes effect Jan. 1, 2027 and runs to Dec. 31, 2030. Provincial committees set the prices for their own areas and are now working on the next cycle's valuations.

In Bangkok, the highest average plot appraisal is 1 million baht per square wah. The lowest in the capital is 500 baht per square wah. Songkhla's top price is 400,000 baht per square wah; its floor is 35 baht. Chiang Mai ranges from 250,000 baht down to 25 baht. Surat Thani recorded the biggest jump in the 2023-2026 period: land prices there rose 117% from the previous four-year cycle.

Vacant land transfers nationwide totaled 115,000 plots in the first quarter of this year, down about 6.5% from 123,000 in the same period a year earlier. The department's count includes only land with full ownership or Nor Sor Gor 3 certificates. Those certificates grant possession rights without freehold ownership. Full-year transfers reached 465,000 plots last year.