Phuket Area by Area: Bang Tao, Kamala, Surin, Layan, Rawai, Nai Harn, Kata, Karon, Patong and Mai Khao
Most of Phuket’s residential supply sits on the west coast, and more than half of it in one submarket: Cherng Talay, the area around Bang Tao Bay and Laguna Phuket, which held 54% of all units for sale in early 2025 and had the highest median condominium asking price of the main submarkets. Further south, Rawai and Karon hold about 16% and 13% of supply and ask less per square metre. Patong is the busy centre; Kamala, to its north, is much less developed, and Kata and Karon to the south are more family-oriented. Mai Khao in the north is a protected national-park coastline next to the airport.
The prices below are asking prices as of April 2025, not the prices units finally sold for.
How the island is organised
Phuket is Thailand’s largest island, connected to Phang Nga province on the mainland by the Sarasin Bridge. It has three districts. Mueang Phuket covers the south and south-east, including the subdistricts of Rawai, Karon, Chalong and Wichit. Kathu covers the west, with the subdistricts of Kathu, Patong and Kamala. Thalang covers the north, including Choeng Thale (usually written Cherng Talay), Si Sunthon and Mai Khao, and it is where Phuket International Airport sits.
In the first quarter of 2025 the island had about 40,600 residential units for sale in 343 developments. Condominiums made up 83% of them (33,704 units) and villas and other landed homes 17% (6,896 units). The island-wide median asking price was about THB 144,000 per m2 for condominiums and about THB 70,000 per m2 for villas. Branded condominiums asked a median of about THB 181,000 per m2 against about THB 141,000 for non-branded ones, and new non-branded units averaged THB 139,000 per m2 against THB 100,000 on resale.
Demand is strongest from Russian, European and Bangkok buyers, many of them relocating or staying long term. In the first half of 2026 Russian condominium purchases were concentrated in Phuket and Chonburi.
Planning rules also shape the hillsides. A Phuket town-planning change enacted in December 2024 opened land between 80 and 140 metres above mean sea level to private development, with a 6-metre height cap and 70% of each plot kept green. Hillside plots in that band are subject to these limits.
The submarket figures side by side
The table shows the submarkets covered in this guide. The one-bedroom figure is the median asking price for a unit of 30 to 40 m2.
| Submarket | Areas it covers in this guide | Share of island supply | Median condo asking price per m2 | Median 1-bedroom asking price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cherngtalay | Bang Tao, Laguna | 54% (about 16,381 units) | About THB 156,000 | THB 5.6 million |
| Rawai | Rawai, Nai Harn | 16% (4,931 units) | About THB 130,000 | THB 3.8 million |
| Karon | Karon, Kata | 13% (3,885 units) | About THB 144,000 | THB 4.8 million |
| Si Sunthon | Thalang district | Not available | Not available | THB 4.1 million |
| Island-wide | All of Phuket | 100% (about 40,600 units) | About THB 144,000 | Not applicable |
Long-term asking rents in April 2025 averaged about THB 18,950 a month for a studio condominium and THB 22,541 for a one-bedroom, and about THB 40,091 for a three-bedroom villa and THB 99,872 for four bedrooms or more. These are island-wide averages.
Bang Tao, Laguna, Surin and Layan
Bang Tao and Laguna
Bang Tao Bay is the centre of Phuket’s largest residential submarket. About 16,381 units were for sale there in the first quarter of 2025, at a median condominium asking price of about THB 156,000 per m2, the highest of the main submarkets. The median one-bedroom asked THB 5.6 million.
Much of the bay’s character comes from Laguna Phuket, an integrated resort built from 1984 on a former tin-mine site on Bang Tao Bay. It opened in 1987, added an 18-hole golf course in 1992 and holds several hotels.
Surin and Layan
Surin and Layan are beaches on the north-west coast. Together with Kamala and Bang Tao, Surin is part of the island’s resort-and-villa coast. Neither beach has price figures of its own, so the Cherngtalay figures above are the nearest guide.
Agents often use “Cherng Talay” for Bang Tao, Surin and Layan together. Cherng Talay is a real subdistrict of Thalang, but a beach name is not an address. If the location matters to you, for example for the planning rules that apply, have your lawyer confirm the subdistrict on the title deed.
Kamala and Patong
Kamala
Kamala is a west-coast bay north of Patong, in the Kathu district, and is much less developed than its neighbour. It is one of the island’s rental-demand hubs.
Patong
Patong is Phuket’s busiest beach town and its nightlife centre. It is one of the island’s three top rental areas. The road over the hill between Kathu and Patong is the subject of a planned expressway with a mountain tunnel. Targets announced on 16 September 2026 put cabinet submission in December 2026, construction from October 2027 and opening in October 2031, and the project still needs cabinet approval. Earlier timetables slipped repeatedly, so treat those dates as targets.
A buyer in Patong who plans to let by the night should read the Hotel Act rules first. Stays shorter than a month are generally treated as hotel business, and many buildings ban them. We explain the rules in our guide to renting out property in Thailand.
Kata and Karon
Kata and Karon are beaches on the south-west coast, in the Karon subdistrict of Mueang Phuket, and are more family-oriented than Patong. The Karon submarket held about 13% of island supply, some 3,885 units, in the first quarter of 2025. Its median condominium asking price of about THB 144,000 per m2 matches the island median, and the median one-bedroom asked THB 4.8 million, against THB 5.6 million in Cherngtalay.
Rawai and Nai Harn
Rawai is the subdistrict at Phuket’s southern tip, and Nai Harn, a beach backed by a lagoon, lies in the same area. The Rawai submarket held about 16% of island supply (4,931 units) and had a median condominium asking price of about THB 130,000 per m2, the lowest of the three large western and southern submarkets in this guide. The median one-bedroom asked THB 3.8 million. Rawai is also one of Phuket’s three top rental areas, alongside Patong.
For buyers comparing the south with Bang Tao, the gap in asking prices is clear in the figures: about THB 130,000 against THB 156,000 per m2 for condominiums. What those figures do not show is how quickly units sell or what they finally sell for, because they are asking prices.
Mai Khao and the north
Mai Khao is Phuket’s longest beach and lies inside Sirinat National Park, created in 1981 and covering 90 km2, of which 68 km2 is marine. The park surrounds the coast around Phuket International Airport, and Mai Khao and Nai Yang are sea-turtle nesting beaches from November to February.
The airport defines the north. It handled about 17.5 million passenger movements in 2025, and from October 2025 to September 2026 averaged 47,219 passengers and 288 flights a day, against a designed capacity of about 12.5 million passengers a year. Phase 2 of the international terminal is scheduled to start construction in 2027 and open in 2032, raising designed capacity to about 19 million. A new Andaman International Airport at Khok Kloi in Phang Nga and a Phuket light rail line are planned but not under construction, and neither has a firm date.
In Si Sunthon, in Thalang, the median one-bedroom asked THB 4.1 million, and in Wichit, in Mueang Phuket district, THB 3.0 million, the lowest one-bedroom median in this guide.
What to check before you buy
- The subdistrict on the title deed, rather than the beach name in the brochure.
- For a condominium, written confirmation that foreign quota is available for your unit.
- For a hillside villa, whether the plot lies in the 80 to 140 metre band and what the 6-metre height cap and 70% green rule allow.
- Whether the building permits short stays at all, and whether it holds a hotel licence if a rental programme is offered.
- Any price you are quoted against the asking-price medians above, remembering they date from April 2025.
- Infrastructure dates quoted in marketing against the official status: the Kathu-Patong tunnel, the airport expansion and the light rail are targets or plans.
The rules on ownership and leases are in our guide to what a foreigner can own and our guide to villa leases. Phuket projects we currently offer are on our Thailand properties page.
