Bangkok is emerging as a central destination in Asia. Capital of the second south east asian economy, and pulled by a important growth. Bangkok, the city of angels attracts more and more expats, retirees and entrepreneurs.
Usually, at the begining expats prefer rent in place of purchase a property. Some get allowances from their companies or pay the rent directly. Thru this page, we are going to explain how the Bangkok rental market is working, what do you need to know when you’re looking to rent a condo, villa, apartment or serviced apartment in Bangkok.
Type of property you can rent in Bangkok
First, when you’ll arrive in Bangkok, you can be confused by several terms used for describe residential accomodations.
- Condo or Condominium, is a private owned apartment. Condos are available either for rent or for sale.
- Apartment, private owned residential apartment building. Available only for rent,
- Serviced apartment, apartmentd with services as you can find in hotels (maid cleaning…)
- Single house
- Villa, single house in a compound
- Townhouse
The difference between condos, apartments and serviced apartments
The difference for a tenant between condos and apartments is in the case of a condominium you will deal with a individual private owner who owns the unit. You will pay directly your electricity bill to the electric company with no charge. In case of any issue you have to deal with the owner, or the property manager of the condo.
For the apartment, the whole building is owned by a company, so the reception will handle all the issue. Usually, you will pay electricty around 6THB/unit, contrary to condo where you pay 3.5THB/unit, and the water expenses is usually a flat fee or charged around 20THB/m3. The intervention when you need something is usually quicker as you deal directly with the building.
Serviced apartment, is same as apartment but with value added services as maid cleaning, Internet… Usually you pay a premium and have access to all services that you can find in an hotel.
The condominium are usually more modern, but the price by square metter is a bit more expensive that in apartment.
The apartment is usually more spacious, but in more classic taste as usually the building are older.
What is the typical lease term?
The typical lease for a condominium and apartment are for a period of minimum 1 year renewable. For serviced apartments it can be either daily, monthly or yearly. More time you stay, less you pay.
For the villa and single house, usually the lease period is for 2 years.
The condos and apartments are rented fully furnished. Villas also generally, but more easy to find villas unfrunished.
What is the most demanded area in Bangkok?
Usually expats who are living in Bangkok, wants to stay in Bangkok Central Business District, as it’s the most convenient and offers access to the whole city, restaurants, departments stores, schools, offices with mass transportation route (Skytrain and MRT), Highway, Boat…
Sukhumvit is one of the favourite expat are with a strong concentration of westerners, japaneses… On Sukhumvit, expats prefers generally stay between the BTS Station from Nana to Ekkamai. After Ekkamai, Onnut station and new opened station attracts expats with a limited budgets. Usually, one of the favourite are on sukhumvit are Phrom Phong due to proximity with Emporium, park, highway… Asoke due to its central location, and Thonglor for its chic and trendy places.
Sathorn area, due to it proxmity with a lot of offices including Empire Tower, Sathorn Square… and many embassies attracts a lot of families. Not easy to find places at walking distance from BTS, but mostly place in the back, in residential green area. Quite popular for European.
Silom area, attracts businessmen, families and expats. Silom is close to numerous offices building, restaurants… The area is famous for its restaurants, markets, and it’s one of favourite place for the homosexual community.
Chitlom/Rajdamri area, is the prestigous area of Bangkok, close to international fashion mall, embassies, luxury hotels and the prestigious Royal Bangkok Golf Club and Lumpini park.
What is the best way to find a property for rent in Bangkok?
If you don’t know the city, it’s adviced to contact a real estate agent, as their services are usually totally free for the tenant, and they will help you to find the place matching your requirements and desires according to your lifestyle.
Also, it will be really helpful to negociate the lease agreement, and as they know the market, in addition to save time, you will usually save also money.
Vauban Real Estate has a good reputation with multilingual team, and it’s one of the only real estate agency which has office directly on sukhumvit road few metter from Phrom Phong BTS Station, which is quite convenient. Also, they provide dedicated services and they are responsive, what can be more difficult to get with biggest real estate agencies.
There is a lot more of real estate agencies, and a search on google with Bangkok rental term will help you find.
Enjoy your stay in Bangkok.