Thailand's 0.01% transfer fee discount (through June 2027): why it doesn't reach a foreign buyer

Does the government's 0.01% property transfer fee discount apply to you as a foreign buyer on Koh Phangan? No. The cabinet resolution behind it is a domestic stimulus measure aimed squarely at Thai individual homebuyers, and it excludes foreign nationals and companies by design — not as an oversight.

What the discount actually is

• Transfer fee cut from 2% to 0.01% of the appraised value, and the mortgage registration fee cut from 1% to 0.01% of the loan amount, when registered together.
• Capped at ฿7 million — the sale price, the official appraised value, and the mortgage amount must all be ฿7 million or under.
• Covers condominium units, detached houses, semi-detached houses, townhouses, commercial buildings, and land sold together with such a building.
• Runs from Royal Gazette publication through 30 June 2027, the latest of several one-year extensions the cabinet has approved since the measure first appeared in 2024.

Who actually qualifies

The eligibility line is drawn narrowly: the buyer must be a Thai individual, not a Thai company and not a foreign national. Nothing in the resolution extends the rate to a foreigner buying a condo unit within the 49% foreign-ownership quota, or to any land-plus-building transfer where a foreigner is the registered buyer. See The full cost of buying: taxes, fees and the FET form for the standard rates this discount temporarily replaces for eligible Thai buyers.

What a foreigner actually pays instead

• Buying a condo outright (the one route to freehold ownership) — the full 2% transfer fee applies, by custom split 50/50 between buyer and seller, plus the full 1% mortgage fee on any financed portion. Thai banks rarely lend to foreign buyers, so most pay the transfer fee in cash with no mortgage fee at all — see Financing as a foreigner.
• Buying land via the leasehold + superficies structure — the standard route for a villa on Phangan — sidesteps the land transfer fee question entirely, because the land itself is never transferred to the foreigner. But that doesn't mean the discount applies by another door: registering the lease costs its own 1% of the total rent over the term plus 0.1% stamp duty, a completely separate fee schedule this stimulus measure doesn't touch. See The lease contract: clauses to check.
• Buying land outright under the ฿40 million investment route — still a foreign national as buyer, still outside the discount, still the standard 2% transfer fee on that land transfer. See The THB 40 million investment route.

The Thai spouse or co-owner edge case

One structure comes closest to qualifying: a Thai national married to a foreigner who buys land or a house in their own name, as required since a foreigner generally cannot hold Thai land title even through marriage. Because the registered buyer of record is a Thai individual, that transaction should, in principle, meet the discount's stated criteria if the price and value caps are met — the resolution's language turns on the nationality of the party named on the deed, not the marital status. In practice, the foreign spouse will still need to sign the standard Land Office declaration that the purchase funds are the Thai spouse's separate property, and how strictly a given Land Office applies the discount to a mixed-nationality household hasn't been tested in public guidance. Confirm directly with the receiving Land Office or your lawyer before budgeting on it — don't assume it from this article alone.

The larger point holds regardless of edge cases: this is a measure to support the Thai domestic housing market during a slow period for the sector, not a foreign-investment incentive. A foreign buyer on Koh Phangan should budget on the standard 2% transfer fee, and — separately — the standard lease or superficies registration costs, exactly as before the discount existed.