350,000 Condos Sit Empty In Bangkok. The Newest Ones Cost ฿100 Million. Somebody Is Buying Them.

🌡️ Weather: 25-31°C (77-88°F). Scattered thundershowers possible. Heavy rain warnings continue for southern provinces. Bangkok should clear up by evening. Good news for anyone heading out tonight.

🌫️ Air Quality: 54-79 (Moderate to Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups). Creeping up. Sensitive groups should limit outdoor time.

🗞️ TOP STORY

BANGKOK ULTRA-LUXURY CONDOS COULD HIT ฿1 MILLION PER SQUARE METER. MEANWHILE, 350,000 UNITS SIT EMPTY ACROSS THE CITY. WHO EXACTLY IS BUYING?

Property consultancy Savills forecasts that Bangkok’s ultra-luxury condo prices could surpass ฿1 million per square meter, driven by soaring land costs and strong demand from high-net-worth buyers. To put that in perspective, a 100 square meter condo at that price is ฿100 million, roughly $2.8 million. Branded residences from names like Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton and Mandarin Oriental are leading the push, commanding an average 31% price premium over standard luxury properties. That number puts Bangkok’s top tier in conversation with Singapore and Hong Kong. Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas reported that government property stimulus measures drove a 17% increase in housing ownership transfers in the first half of 2026, and relaxed loan-to-value rules pushed real estate lending to 12% growth.

But here is the other side. Knight Frank Thailand estimates that Greater Bangkok has roughly 350,000 unsold condo units, a glut that could take five to six years to clear at current absorption rates of about 60,000 transfers per year. A separate Cushman & Wakefield report from October puts the Bangkok-specific number at 65,300 unsold units worth ฿370 billion, with about 25,700 of those completed and just sitting there waiting for a buyer. The booking rate for newly launched projects dropped to 24.3% in Q1 2026, down from 43.8% the previous quarter. And the five-to-six year timeline assumes no significant new supply. That is not what is happening. Developers are still launching projects. Bangkok recorded 14,377 new condo units in the first nine months of 2026 alone, up 6% year over year. The math gets worse when you factor in Thai buyer behavior: most Thai buyers prefer new condos over resale units, which means fresh launches compete directly against existing unsold stock rather than helping clear it. Every new project that goes up makes the older inventory harder to move. Chinese buyer transfers fell 38.8% in Q1, and more than 68% of new launches are priced below ฿80,000 per square meter, which tells you where the real demand pressure sits. So you have two completely separate markets operating inside the same city. At the top, branded residences are selling to wealthy foreigners and Thai elites who treat Bangkok real estate like a portfolio asset. At the bottom and middle, developers are sitting on years of unsold inventory while building new inventory that competes with it. The question is not whether Bangkok’s property market is healthy. It is which Bangkok property market you are talking about.

Bottom line: ฿1 million per square meter at the top. 350,000 empty units at the bottom. The ultra-luxury market and the mass market are not the same conversation. If you are buying, the oversupply means negotiating power you have not had in a decade. If you are investing, the branded residence segment is the only one where prices are moving up. Know which market you are in.

Most hair thinning products treat symptoms. OneSkin’s OS-01 Hair Scalp Serum is the only formula that targets senescent cells, the dysfunctional cells behind age-related thinning, at the scalp level. Clinically validated. Proven to improve thickness and density with consistent use. Save 25%.

There are many products for hair thinning on the market, but they don’t all deliver on their promises. OneSkin’s OS-01 HAIR SCALP SERUM is backed by clinically validated longevity science, and proven to improve thickness and density with consistent use. 

Treatments like DHT blockers address pattern thinning, and minoxidil increases blood flow to the scalp. But OS-01 HAIR is the only scalp formula to specifically address the dysfunctional senescent cells behind age-related hair thinning.

Powered by OneSkin’s proprietary OS-01 Peptide™, OS-01 HAIR SCALP SERUM targets the spread of senescent cells at the scalp, creating the optimal conditions for visibly fuller, healthier-looking hair.

Address hair thinning where it begins. Make OneSkin’s OS-01 HAIR part of your longevity stack, and optimize your hair health routine.

Save 25% on OS-01 HAIR Serum

BANGKOK IS OFFICIALLY CONSIDERING EXTENDING NIGHTLIFE HOURS ON KHAO SAN ROAD. TONIGHT IS THE TEST. 60,000 VISITORS EXPECTED.

Minister Paradorn Prissananantakul chaired a meeting on October 30 with Bangkok officials, police and government agencies to discuss a pilot entertainment zone on Khao San Road. This is the story we have been tracking since October 24, when the business association asked the PM to kill the midnight closing rule. The Halloween celebration tonight and tomorrow is the real-world test case, with organizers expecting up to 60,000 Thai and foreign visitors over the two nights and a requested closing time of 4AM. If the event goes smoothly and the numbers hold, the “Khaosan Sandbox” pilot accelerates from a letter to the PM into an actual policy discussion.

Here is the part that does not make the official statements but everyone in Bangkok knows. Midnight is the legal closing time, but a significant number of nightlife venues across the city already operate past it. Some take the risk and accept the occasional fine. Others pay officers to look the other way. It is one of the worst-kept secrets in Bangkok nightlife and it feeds the same corruption cycle that Monday’s traffic police directive was designed to break. By officially moving the closing time to 4AM on Khao San Road, the government would not just be giving bars more hours. It would be removing the financial incentive for venues to pay bribes to stay open and letting businesses earn revenue legally instead of laundering it through unofficial payments. The question is whether the pilot stays on Khao San or extends to Thonglor, RCA, Sukhumvit and other corridors where the same dynamic plays out every weekend. Every expat who has watched a bar pull its shutters down at midnight, only to let people in through a side door ten minutes later, understands exactly what is at stake. The best argument for extended hours is not that people want to party longer. It is that the current system forces businesses to break the law or pay to survive.

Bottom line: Tonight is the test. 60,000 visitors expected on Khao San Road. The real story is not the party. It is whether Bangkok is ready to legalize what is already happening, cut the corruption out of nightlife and let businesses operate profitably without paying for the privilege. Go out. Spend money. Be responsible. The numbers tonight shape the policy tomorrow.

You should not have to guess where a deal stands. Aligned shows you what buyers are actually doing between meetings inside your most important deals, then surfaces the risks, openings and next steps before it is too late. Free to start.

Aligned shows you what buyers are doing between meetings inside your most important deals then surfaces the risks, openings, and next steps. No more guessing where a deal stands or finding out a champion went quiet too late. Just real visibility, so you can act before it's too late.

Start Using Aligned Free

⚡ QUICK HITS

Thailand plans 30,000 civil service exits over five years through an early retirement scheme. The proposed plan caps payouts at 15 times monthly salary and is headed to Cabinet for consideration in mid-November. The goal is government restructuring at a scale Thailand has not attempted in decades. For context, Thailand’s civil service has long been criticized as oversized relative to the economy, and previous reform efforts have stalled. If approved, this would be one of the largest voluntary separation programs in the country’s history. The scheme is designed to reduce headcount through incentives rather than layoffs, targeting roles that can be absorbed through technology and process changes.

Rabbi Kantor’s Thai citizenship has been revoked. Now 19 firms and family members are under scrutiny. PM Anutin ordered the citizenship revocation of the Chabad Bangkok leader after authorities found he had used a US passport 16 times while holding Thai nationality. The investigation has now expanded to 19 companies and relatives linked to Kantor. The case touches on broader questions about how Thai citizenship is obtained and maintained by foreign nationals, and the business structures that surround high-profile religious and community organizations in Bangkok.

Thailand suspended unofficial border trade for seven days amid Myanmar clashes. The suspension follows last week’s cross-border shelling that damaged more than 20 homes in Mae Sot and injured a 55-year-old Thai woman. The Ratchamanu Task Force fired four 120mm smoke and illumination rounds to deter the fighting. The seven-day trade suspension affects the informal cross-border economy that supports communities on both sides of the Thai-Myanmar border in Tak province.

K-Research predicts 2027 Thai GDP growth of only 2%. That is below the government’s own forecasts and reflects ongoing concerns about domestic demand, household debt and the uneven economic recovery. For comparison, the BoT forecast 2.4% for 2026 and 2.1% for 2027 just this week. K-Research’s number is even lower, suggesting the private sector sees more headwinds than the central bank is acknowledging publicly.

🥞 SPOT OF THE DAY

TREEHOUSE CAFE & BAR (SUKHUMVIT SOI 31)

Treehouse Cafe and Bar is the all-day brunch spot that Sukhumvit Soi 31 has been hiding in plain sight. The space is built across multiple levels with open-air terraces, lush greenery growing through the structure and warm lighting that makes the whole place feel like a tropical garden rather than a restaurant on a busy Bangkok soi. The brunch menu runs all day: scrambled eggs with avocado on sourdough, granola bowls, fresh fruit platters and a matcha latte that reviewers keep coming back for. But Treehouse is not just a morning spot. The lunch and dinner menu holds its own with grilled sea bass, fish and chips that multiple reviewers call the best they have had in Bangkok, chicken cashew rice, burgers, pasta and Thai comfort plates built for sharing. Grab a couple of cold beers, spread out a few dishes across the table and you have the kind of lazy Saturday afternoon that this city does better than anywhere else. The cheesecake gets its own highlight on Google for a reason.

The 4.8-star rating across 2,364 Google reviews is the score of a place that figured out how to do brunch, lunch, dinner and drinks without dropping the ball on any of them. “The whole place feels like a little jungle hideaway in the city,” one reviewer wrote. Another said “nice place, very treehouse style but not an overpriced Instagram cafe.” A third praised the manager Jun by name, calling him “amazing and great at his work.” The cafe also runs trivia nights, movie screenings and sports events under the stars on the terrace, so it works for evenings too. Pet-friendly, kids’ menu available, outdoor seating that feels private even on a full Saturday. If you want a place where you can show up at 10AM for eggs and coffee and still be there at 3PM with beers and a spread of grilled sea bass and Thai plates, Treehouse is built for exactly that kind of day.

→ Check their menu and find them here ←

Insider tip: The grilled sea bass and the passion fruit dessert are the two dishes that come up most in reviews. Saturday morning is the busiest brunch window, so book a table or arrive by 9:30AM. The terrace is the best seating. Food runs until 9:30PM, bar until 11PM.

📍 20 Sukhumvit 31, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110
📞 080 899 4249
🕐 Open daily 9AM-11PM | Food until 9:30PM | Bar 11AM-11PM
⭐ 4.8 stars (2,364 Google reviews) | ฿200-400 per person | Pet-friendly
🌐 @treehousecafe.barbkk

Always check opening times before heading out.

📅 WHAT'S ON

THIS WEEKEND

NOVEMBER & BEYOND

See you tomorrow morning.

Reach Bangkok's English-speaking community, every morning. Advertise