Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing foreigners buying land and inflating the prices of land here in Thailand. This is a major concern amongst Thais. Foreigners owning real estate in Thailand is something that is heavily restricted here in Thailand to the point of making it impossible for foreigners to own land. I have done the detailed analysis on that in the past; I am not going to get into that in this video but suffice it to say, effectively foreigners are barred from owning land here in the Kingdom. 

So then the question becomes "what are the reasons behind that?” Well there doesn't have to be a reason. Thailand is a Sovereign Nation and if she decides to pass laws to allow folks that are not nationals of this country to buy land that basically disallows that activity, that's well within her rights. That being said, another concern is the idea that foreigners could drive up the prices of real estate and affectively price locals out of the market. I think that is a very valid concern to have. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Foreigners working without a Permit in Thailand face Crackdown. I'm going to quote a small excerpt in this video but I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in detail. The thrust of it goes to a different direction; we are talking about real estate here. Quoting directly: "Move Forward Party List MP Sittipol Viboonthanakul said many Thais were now complaining that foreigners were taking jobs reserved for them, or buying land at inflated prices which in turn led to increases in the cost of living for all." So again and by 'for all', all Thais, bear that in mind, that is the concern especially to a politician here in Thailand. But again as far as the foreigners taking jobs, we have done other videos contemporaneously with this one where we got into that analysis, but we are talking about real estate here. 

Yeah it is worth noting, it's illegal for foreigners to own what we would deem real estate, land in Thailand. Now as we have discussed in other videos, it's perfectly legal for foreigners to own condos pursuant to the provisions of the Thai Condominium Act, I am not going to go into any further detail in this video regarding that, but yes it is possible for foreign nationals to own condos here but true real estate i.e. land, yes that is still restricted. As they get into further in that article, which again I urge people to read, they go into the fact that yeah, corporations, nominees being utilized to sort of create colour of law subterfuge to allow foreign nationals to own property. That is being heavily scrutinized as well and as we have discussed in other videos, those companies can be dissolved and the land seized and we have made videos when that has presumptively occurred here in Thailand.

So the thing to take away from this video and understand is that one) foreigners are restricted from owning property in Thailand; two) one of the reasons for that restriction is the concern in Thailand that locals get priced out of their own market; and three) as we have discussed in many other videos in recent weeks, I think we are now seeing the ramp up of a major for lack of a better term 'clamp down' on foreigners here in Thailand if in no other way, then heightened scrutiny on things like working in Thailand as well as landownership here in the Kingdom.