Koh Samui real estate for sale

Koh Samui price per square metre, beach by beach

Koh Samui is not one market. The ring road is 51 kilometres long and the price of a villa changes by a factor of one and a half between the north-west coast and the Choeng Mon headland. The table below comes from our own listings rather than from a national average: it covers the 221 villas and houses currently for sale with Five Stars on Koh Samui, grouped by coastal area and reported as medians.

Median of the asking prices published in our catalogue in August 2026, divided by the built area declared for each property. Land is priced separately, see below. Areas with fewer than ten listings are not shown.

How to read these numbers

Three price tiers show up clearly. Lamai and Maenam, both around 57,000 THB per m², are where a 250 to 275 m² villa with a pool still trades under 14 million THB: established residential areas, real village life, a beach that works, and the best entry point on the island. Chaweng, Bang Por, Bophut and the west coast sit between 64,000 and 76,000, buying you either the commercial centre of the island or, on the Lipa Noi side, sunset views and space. Choeng Mon, Plai Laem and Chaweng Noi, from 79,000 to 87,000, are the headland market: sea view guaranteed, quiet, and a median asking price of 34.5 million THB in Choeng Mon that reflects it.

Land, when sold on its own, runs at a median of 7,510 THB per m² across our listings, which works out to roughly 12 million THB per rai (1 rai = 1,600 m²). Sea view and slope drive that figure far more than the total area does, and a cheap plot with a 30 degree gradient can cost more in retaining walls and access road than the land itself. Ask for the geotechnical situation and the access rights before the price.

Condominiums are a small segment on Samui, with a median close to 97,000 THB per m², and they matter for one legal reason developed below: a condominium is the only property a foreigner can own freehold in their own name.

What a foreigner can legally own on Koh Samui

The rule is national, not local, and it does not bend: a foreign national cannot own land in Thailand in their own name. Every villa in the table above is therefore sold under one of the structures below. Which one it is changes the price, the resale liquidity and the risk, so it is the first question to ask about any listing, on our site or anyone else's.

Freehold, for a condominium unit

The Condominium Act allows a foreigner to hold a registered condominium unit outright, with a title deed in their own name. The limit applies to the building: foreign owners may hold at most 49 % of the total saleable floor area of that condominium. When the quota is exhausted, the remaining units are sold to Thai buyers or on leasehold. Before signing, require a written confirmation from the condominium juristic person that foreign quota is available for your unit, along with a debt-free letter covering the common area fees.

The money route is part of the law, not administrative decoration. Funds must be sent from abroad in foreign currency and converted to baht by the receiving Thai bank. For transfers of USD 50,000 and above the bank issues a Foreign Exchange Transaction Form, which the Land Office asks for at registration and which also underpins your right to send the sale proceeds back out of Thailand later. Baht transferred from a Thai account does not qualify.

The 30 year registered lease, for a villa

For a landed property the usual structure is a lease of the land, registered on the title deed at the Land Department. Thai law caps a registered residential lease at 30 years. Contractual renewal options are standard and enforceable between the signing parties, but they do not automatically bind a future owner of the land. Any lease over three years that is not registered on the deed itself is not enforceable against third parties, whatever the private agreement says. On Samui, where a large share of the villa stock is on leasehold, checking the registration and the remaining term is not optional.

Owning the villa while leasing the land

Thai law separates land from the building standing on it. A foreigner can hold the villa itself in their own name, either registered separately at the Land Office or built under a construction permit issued in their name, on land held under a registered lease. Two further rights strengthen that position: a right of superficies, which allows ownership of a structure on another person's land for up to 30 years or for life, and a usufruct, which grants the right to use and take the fruits of a property and can be granted for the holder's lifetime. A properly built Samui villa purchase usually combines a registered lease, superficies and building ownership rather than relying on a single document.

The Thai company route, and what nobody tells you

A Thai limited company can own land, and a foreign shareholder can hold up to 49 % and control the company through its articles and share classes. That is lawful for a company with genuine activity and genuine Thai shareholders. It is unlawful when the Thai shareholders are nominees with no real economic interest, holding shares for you. The Land Department has audited exactly this on the resort islands, and the exposure sits with the buyer, not the agent who set it up. If someone offers you a ready-made company with silent Thai partners as a shortcut to freehold land, that is a risk being sold as a product. We say so in writing before any structure is chosen.

Buying a Samui villa from abroad

A large share of our Koh Samui sales are completed by buyers who are not in Thailand on the day. The mechanism is well established and entirely legal. It is also intolerant of paperwork errors, so here is the sequence.

1. Live viewing, not a showreel. We walk the property on a video call while you direct the camera: the road in, the state of the retaining wall, the water supply, what the sea view actually looks like from the terrace rather than from a drone. For off-plan we send the developer's licence, the approved plans and the construction permit.
2. Reservation and sale agreement. A deposit, generally 100,000 to 200,000 THB, secures the property for the due diligence window. The sale and purchase agreement is bilingual, and in a Thai court the Thai text prevails, so it must be read by your own lawyer rather than the seller's.
3. Due diligence before any large payment. Title deed search at the Koh Samui Land Office: deed type, registered area, ownership chain, mortgages, servitudes, registered leases. On the island, three checks matter more than anywhere else: legal road access to the plot, the building permit and whether the villa respects the slope and height restrictions applying to hillside land, and the water supply.
4. Sending the money. Foreign currency from your own account abroad, converted in Thailand, purpose recorded. Keep the Foreign Exchange Transaction Form issued by the bank.
5. Power of attorney. If you are not attending, you sign the Land Department power of attorney form with certified passport copies, witnessed at a Thai embassy or consulate, or notarised and legalised at home. It has to name the specific transaction and the specific plot or unit. Generic wording is refused at the counter.
6. Registration. The transfer is registered in person at the Land Office and takes a few hours. Payment is released by cashier's cheque against the officer's registration. Title deed or registered lease is issued the same day.

The costs that come on top of the price

Ask us the awkward questions

Five Stars has been selling Thai property since 2006, from an office on South Sathorn Road in Bangkok, with listings across Koh Samui, Hua Hin, Phuket and Pattaya. We answer in English and in French. Tell us your budget, whether the villa is for living, for retirement or for rental income, and we will come back with the properties from the areas above that genuinely match, each one with the tenure structure it is sold under stated up front.

Continue browsing: villas and houses for sale in Koh Samui, condos for sale in Koh Samui, land for sale in Koh Samui, villas to rent in Koh Samui, or compare with villas for sale in Hua Hin and villas for sale in Phuket.