Buying a Condo in Hua Hin as a Foreigner in 2026

A foreign buyer who sets out to buy a condo in Hua Hin should look first at the line most people skip on a listing, the owner quota, because it decides whether the unit can be registered in your name at all. On 30 October 2026 we list 196 condos for sale in Hua Hin, Cha-Am, Pran Buri and Sam Roi Yot, and 124 of them are recorded Thai/Foreign Quota, 64 Foreign Quota and 8 Thai Quota. Eight is a small number, and none of October’s new condos is among them. This is the condo companion to our guide to buying a villa in Hua Hin as a foreigner, and it tests each rule on October’s condos.

Can a foreigner own a condo in Hua Hin outright?

Yes. The Condominium Act of 1979 lets a foreign individual hold a unit freehold, registered on its own title deed at the land office, with no company, nominee or lease involved. Two conditions come with it. The first is a cap: under section 19 bis, units owned by foreigners may together make up no more than 49% of the space of all the units in the condominium (the Act’s foreign-ownership sections in English). The second concerns the money, which for most foreign buyers has to come from abroad, as we explain below.

Because the cap counts floor space, not units, a few large apartments can use as much of a building’s foreign share as many small ones. The cap is argued over in both directions: on 19 June 2026 The Nation reported that a larger foreign quota was under consideration, and that Sopon Pornchokchai of the Agency for Real Estate Affairs warned of speculation, noting that Thailand sets foreign buyers no residency rule, minimum price or limit on units (The Nation: Thailand urged to tighten rules on foreign condo ownership). Until the Act is amended, 49% is the limit the land office applies. Our legal guide to property ownership for foreigners covers the national rules, and our page on what foreigners can own on the beachfront explains why beach buildings tend to reach the limit first. Buying within the quota needs none of the company structures described in our update on the 2026 nominee crackdown.

What do Thai Quota, Foreign Quota and Thai/Foreign Quota mean on a listing?

Each condo we list for sale carries one of three quota labels, answering the question that comes before the price: can this unit be registered in my name? The 196 include the 12 units also offered for rent. Counting only units for sale, not for rent, and only those tagged Hua Hin, as our guide to Baan Sandao and Hua Hin’s town beach condos does, gives 168 condos: 50 Foreign Quota, 113 Thai/Foreign and 5 Thai Quota.

Label on our listing	Who can register it in their own name	Condos we list for sale	Examples
Foreign Quota	A foreign or a Thai buyer: the unit is recorded inside the building’s foreign share	64	HC415, HC416, HC417, HC418, HC419
Thai/Foreign Quota	A Thai buyer, or a foreign buyer if the building’s foreign share still has room on the day of transfer	124	HC376
Thai Quota	A Thai buyer only	8	HC405, 4784753

Foreign Quota is the label a foreign buyer wants to see. It means the unit is listed as held within the building’s foreign share, so a sale from one foreigner to another stays inside that share and uses none of what is left; the title deed and the juristic office should confirm it. A Thai/Foreign Quota unit can go to either buyer while the building has foreign quota left, which only its juristic office can tell you, so ask it in writing before you pay a deposit; what counts is the position on the day of transfer. In a building still being sold by its developer, the question is how much of the 49% is already taken, which our guide to new condos in Hua Hin works through for Blue Whale and VEHHA.

Six of our eight Thai Quota units are at Palm Hills, from HC249 at 5.0M THB to HC394 at 8.9M THB. The other two are a one-bedroom at The Seacraze at 2.7M THB and a one-bedroom at the Boathouse at 5.9M THB. A foreigner who likes a Thai Quota unit is usually offered a registered lease instead, a different asset with a term that runs down, as our beachfront ownership guide explains.

How does the purchase money have to arrive?

For most foreign buyers the route the money takes is a legal condition, not a formality. Section 19 of the Act qualifies a foreign buyer who has brought foreign currency into Thailand, and section 19 ter asks for evidence of an amount not less than the price of the unit; the Act also accepts money drawn from a foreign-currency account or from the baht account of someone living abroad. In practice you send the price from abroad in a foreign currency and a Thai bank converts it to baht. Baht earned in Thailand and sitting in an ordinary account will not do, but money you sent from abroad earlier still counts if the bank’s records of that transfer cover the price. Permanent residents and BOI-promoted investors qualify under other parts of section 19.

The evidence is the bank’s paperwork. ThaiLawOnline, a licensed Thai law firm, says banks issue a Foreign Exchange Transaction form, the FET form, for each inward transfer of USD 50,000 or more, and credit advices with a confirmation letter for smaller ones, a threshold set by bank practice rather than statute (ThaiLawOnline on the FET form). The same firm advises that the sender should be the person to be registered as owner, and that the transfer should state its purpose as buying a condominium unit, ideally naming the project and unit. The land office will not register a unit in a foreign name without that evidence, so ask your bank before you send.

What does a foreigner pay at transfer in 2026?

The transfer fee is 2% of the official assessed value, which can be lower than the price you agree. The headline for 2026 is a cut: after a cabinet resolution of 30 June, the reduced 0.01% transfer and mortgage registration fees were extended through 30 June 2027 by notifications in the Government Gazette of 1 July (Tilleke & Gibbins). The cut is for Thai individuals only, and only where the purchase price, the assessed value and the mortgage amount are each no more than 7M THB. A foreign buyer therefore pays the standard 2% transfer fee.

On HC418 at 2.6M THB that is up to about 52,000 THB, against at most 260 THB for a Thai individual buying the same unit. Who pays it is for the contract to say. ThaiLawOnline notes that without a term on it, section 457 of the Civil and Commercial Code has buyer and seller bear the costs of a sale equally, and that in a resale they often share the transfer fee, which would put a foreign buyer’s half on HC418 at up to about 26,000 THB (ThaiLawOnline on transfer fees and taxes). HC417, at 16.0M THB, is above the 7M THB cap, so even a Thai buyer would pay the standard 2%. By custom the seller pays the taxes on a sale, the specific business tax or stamp duty and the withholding tax, according to the same firm, unless the contract says otherwise. Our villa guide tabulates their rates, and our page on fees when purchasing property has more.

What does a condo cost to keep each month?

Once the unit is yours, the regular cost is the common area fee, charged monthly per sqm, so the rate on a listing means little until you multiply it. HC415 at Palm Hills pays 33 THB per sqm, or 4,290 THB a month on its 130 sqm. HC418 and HC419 at Lumpini Park Beach pay a higher rate of 50 THB, but on 38 sqm that is about 1,900 THB a month, while HC417’s listing records 10,234 THB a month at 40 THB, more than the 9,000 THB that rate gives on its 225 sqm, so ask what area the building charges on. The fee pays for the building: electricity, water, internet and anything inside your own walls are extra, as is the annual land and building tax set out in our property tax guide.

The fee matters on transfer day as well. A unit cannot be transferred at the land office without a certificate from the juristic person that no common fees are outstanding, so ask the seller early for it and for the building’s latest accounts. Our guide to common area fees in Thailand explains what the fee covers.

Four October condos, four different answers

Baan Chaan Talay, a beachfront building in Cha-Am, shows why a quota label needs checking. HC417 is a 225 sqm four-bedroom with three bathrooms, a private pool and a sea view, built in 2009 on a Chanote, asking 16.0M THB on the Foreign Quota; it was first listed as Thai Quota, and the listing was corrected on 31 October. HC376, in the same building and also 225 sqm, is a ground-floor three-bedroom with three bathrooms whose description also records a private pool, asking 20.9M THB on the Thai/Foreign Quota. The 4.9M THB between them is not the price of a label, since the cheaper unit has both the label a foreign buyer wants and a fourth bedroom: floor, finish and the seller’s position all move a price.

In one building the two labels mean different things to a foreign buyer. HC417 is listed as already held within the building’s foreign share, so its sale to a foreigner uses none of what is left. HC376 can be registered to a foreign buyer only if the foreign share still has room on the day of transfer, which only the juristic office can tell you. HC376’s record dates from December 2025, so ask us for the juristic office’s current figure, and for HC417’s title deed, before you rely on either label.

At Palm Hills two units ask the same 5.5M THB with different quotas. HC415, our Hot Deal of the month, is a two-bedroom of 130 sqm on the third and top floor, built in 1999 and sold fully furnished and, its description says, fully renovated, on the Foreign Quota with a Chanote. HC405 is a ground-floor two-bedroom of 155 sqm with a terrace, on the Thai Quota. A Thai buyer can choose between the two, a foreign buyer only HC415; a foreigner who wants a ground floor of that size has HC143, also 155 sqm and on the Foreign Quota, at 4.6M THB.

HC415 is not the cheapest Palm Hills top floor, though: of the five 130 sqm top floors we list it asks the most, against 4.5M THB for HC325 and HC261, both also Foreign Quota, 4.9M THB for HC339 and 5.0M THB for HC249. Its listing’s case for the extra 1.0M THB is the renovation; HC325 and HC261 also record a golf membership, which HC415 does not, so ask what each sale includes and compare them on a viewing. Our Palm Hills estate guide sets the units side by side.

Lumpini Park Beach in Cha-Am supplies October’s lowest prices. HC418 and HC419 are one-bedroom corner units of 38 sqm with one bathroom, built in 2015, on the Foreign Quota with a Chanote, at 2.6M THB each. They are the cheapest beachfront and the cheapest Foreign Quota condos we list; only two of the 196 ask less, both 30 sqm Thai/Foreign Quota units at Baan Kiang Fah. At about 68,400 THB per sqm they sit above the median of about 60,500 THB for the 59 condos tagged Cha-Am that are for sale only, but far below the building’s two 57 sqm units, 4550462 at 6.65M THB and 5183438 at 6.9M THB, which ask about 116,700 and 121,100 THB per sqm. Our comparison of Blue Lagoon and Cha-Am’s beach condos sets the building against its neighbours.

HC416, at Baan View Viman near Khao Takiab beach, is a top-floor two-bedroom corner unit built in 2014, on the Foreign Quota with a Chanote, asking 7.95M THB. Its listing records sea, golf-fairway and mountain views, and the building is one of the low-rise blocks near the Sea Pines course in our guide to golf course property in Hua Hin. Ask us for its floor plan and monthly fee before comparing it.

Condo or villa: which route suits you?

A villa cannot be owned freehold in a foreigner’s own name the way a condo can, because a foreigner cannot own Thai land, so it is bought through a registered lease of the land for up to 30 years with the house owned separately, or, where the land has a Chanote, through a Sap-Ing-Sith, as our villa guide explains. If the space and garden of a house matter more to you than freehold, our guide to Hua Hin pool villas by bedroom shows what each size costs. If a condo suits you, settle the quota first, then the bank transfer, and only then the price.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Have a Thai property lawyer check the title deed, the juristic office’s quota letter and the contract before you pay a deposit. Prices and quotas are those on our listings on 30 October 2026, with HC417’s quota as corrected on 31 October, and each listing page carries the current figure.

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Find a condo you can own in your own name

Every condo we list for sale records its quota, and almost all record the title deed and the monthly fee per sqm. Browse what is for sale, and ask us to confirm a building’s remaining foreign quota with its juristic office before you reserve.