Phuket Second Homes Draw India's Wealthy from Dubai

As Dubai's property market cools, wealthy Indian buyers are looking for a new shoreline. Increasingly, the answer is Thailand. Banyan Group is leaning hard into Indian demand for Phuket second homes, betting that uncertainty in the Middle East nudges the country's HNIs and UHNIs toward the island, said Stuart Reading, Managing Director of Banyan Group Property Development.

Dubai's loss is Phuket's gain

Reading is blunt about the shift. "The Dubai market has definitely suffered," he said, adding that brokers and buyers from Dubai are now pivoting to markets like his. On his own numbers, Banyan's business is running around 40 per cent above last year, after a recent record run.

Price is a big part of the pull. Reading argues that Phuket stays cheaper than Dubai, which has seen sharp increases and worries about saturation. As a smaller market, he says, Phuket has more room to grow, which is the pitch to international buyers weighing where to put their money.

Why Indians are buying Phuket second homes

Indian demand is already showing up in the data. The reading says Indians are the fifth-largest buyers by value at the company's Laguna Phuket project and the second-largest group of tourists on the island. For this project, he adds, Indians are buying luxury property more than any other segment.

The reasons are familiar. Phuket is close to India, easy to like, and treated as a diversification play alongside Dubai, Europe, the UK and the US. Banyan has set up a dedicated India presence and runs familiarisation trips so buyers and brokers can see the development first-hand. Crucially, the motivation is lifestyle, not a fast flip. Reading estimates 75 to 80 per cent buy with the company as a second home, with the rest treating it as a permanent or semi-permanent base.

The numbers behind the bet

Phuket is not the biggest market on Banyan's books, but it is a steady one. Russia remains the largest source by value for Laguna Phuket, followed by Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong, with India breaking into the top five last year. Key European buyers come from the UK, Germany and Switzerland.

Returns are the other draw. Reading puts potential rental yields and capital appreciation in a range of 5 to 10 per cent a year, depending on the asset and the market, though he is quick to flag currency swings as a factor in any overseas purchase. He frames Phuket as a market built on long-term holders rather than speculators, which he says keeps values stable.

Inside Laguna Phuket, and the visa route

The flagship is Laguna Phuket, a 1,000-acre mixed-use township along Bang Tao Beach in southern Thailand. It packs in six hotels, a wellness centre, dining and leisure, and more than 3,000 branded residences. Prices run from roughly ₹1.7 crore to ₹86 crore, covering everything from mid-segment international buyers to UHNIs.

Living there long-term means navigating Thailand's visa menu, which is wide:

• Visa-free entry for Indians for stays up to 30 days
• Retirement visas for those above 50
• Long-Term Resident visas for wealthy individuals and skilled professionals
• The Destination Thailand Visa for digital nomads, and the Thailand Privilege Visa, with fees from around ₹16 lakh to over ₹1.25 crore

Banyan operates in 15 countries and already runs a hotel in Bengaluru, but it has no property developments in India yet. Reading says the group is evaluating opportunities and that India could become a future destination, provided any project clears its global brand standards. For now, the strategy is to sell India a slice of Phuket.

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