How to price a house so that it actually sells
Price it from what comparable houses in the same area have actually sold for in the last six months. Not from what other people are asking, not from what you have put into it, and not from the government appraised value.
The gap between asking prices and achieved prices is what leads a whole market to price badly, because what you see on a listing site is sellers' hope rather than the result. An overpriced listing sits in the system for a year, and it is the number the next seller quotes, so the wrong price gets handed down.
The three numbers people use, and why each is wrong
The first is the purchase price plus everything you have spent. The market has no interest in it. Buyers compare your house against the others they viewed the same week, not against your receipts. A million baht of work does not add a million baht of value. Some of it adds less than it cost, and some of it adds nothing.
The second is the government appraised value. That is the base for calculating fees and taxes at the land office, not a market price. It is generally below what properties actually change hands for, and it reflects nothing about condition, finish or which plot in the estate you are on.
The third is the most dangerous because it looks the most reasonable: what the neighbours are asking. Most people open a listing site, see a similar house at 6.5 million, and conclude theirs is worth about that, without ever checking when the listing went up. If it has been sitting for eight months without selling, what it is telling you is that the price is too high, not that this is the market.
Where to find what things really sold for
Transaction prices in Thailand are not published the way they are in some countries, so you have to assemble the picture from several directions. Four work, and you should use all four rather than picking one.
- Ask at least three agents who genuinely work that area. Do not just take a number, ask which houses they compared against, when those sold, and how yours differs. An agent who cannot answer is guessing, and the highest of the three figures is usually the one quoted to win the instruction rather than to sell the house.
- Watch the listings that disappear. A house in the same estate that was listed and one day vanished has usually sold. If you noted the last price before it went, that is closer to reality than anything still on the market.
- Ask the juristic person or the neighbours. In an estate or a condominium, the management office knows which units have changed hands, and long-standing neighbours usually know what they went for.
- Look at a bank valuation if you have one. If you have refinanced, or a buyer's bank has valued the property, that number matters a great deal, because it is what a lender will advance against, and that is the real ceiling on what most buyers can pay.
That last one carries more weight than people expect, because most buyers borrow. Price at 7 million when the bank values at 6.2, and the buyer has to find 800,000 baht in cash to bridge it, which most cannot. The deal then dies at the bank, not in negotiation. Why lenders reach different figures for the same house is in why banks value the same house differently.
Adjusting from your comparables
Once you have three to five comparable houses, do not simply average them. Adjust up and down for each difference in turn. That is what a valuer does, and you can do it on one sheet of paper.
| Difference | Direction | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Land area and internal space | Larger up, smaller down | Land and building move at different rates. Land gains value by area; the building depreciates with age. Do not roll them into one figure |
| Age and condition | Newer or better kept, up | Visible condition weighs heavily with buyers. Two houses of the same age, one freshly painted and one neglected, differ by more than the numbers suggest |
| Position within the estate | Backing a garden or on a quiet cul de sac up; on a main road or west facing, down | Within one estate the plot difference can run into six figures, and local buyers know it better than you do |
| Extensions and finishes | Some uplift, but less than you spent | A new kitchen and bathrooms return the most. Work done to a personal taste, strong colours or unusual built-in joinery, can be a negative because buyers price in removing it |
| How long ago the comparable sold | Adjust for market movement | In 2026 transfer volumes rose while value rose less, meaning the market shifted down into lower price bands. Using last year's price directly usually overshoots. See has the market recovered yet |
Deduct the cost of selling before you believe the number
An asking price is not money in your pocket. Plenty of sellers get the net figure wrong and then commit to buying their next house on money that does not exist. Take these off first.
- The outstanding mortgage. If you are still paying, it is settled on transfer day. Ask the bank for the current figure rather than using last month's statement.
- Transfer fee at the land office. Normally 2 percent of the appraised value and usually split with the buyer. There is currently a reduction to 0.01 percent for homes up to 7 million baht, subject to conditions, until 30 June 2027.
- Specific business tax or stamp duty. Held for less than five years and outside the exemptions, specific business tax applies at 3.3 percent including local tax, on the sale price or appraised value, whichever is higher. Otherwise stamp duty applies instead. The detail and the exemptions are in selling before and after five years.
- Withholding tax. Calculated from the appraised value, the years held and the progressive rates, not from your actual gain. People are regularly surprised at the counter because they never worked it out.
- Agency commission, if you use one, typically around 3 percent. Agree in advance whether VAT is included and when it is payable.
- Repairs and preparation. Set aside a budget, because a house with visible defects always gets chipped by more than the repair would have cost.
What is left after all that is the figure you can plan with. If it does not cover the plan, change the plan rather than the asking price, because pricing above the market does not produce more money.
Why pricing high and cutting later earns less
This is the most popular strategy and the worst performing one, and the reason is not economic theory. It is how listing sites work and how buyers behave.
A new listing is pushed to the top and sent to everyone with an alert set for that area, so attention is heavily concentrated in the first two or three weeks. The people searching right now are the readiest buyers, because they have seen a dozen houses already and know the market better than you do.
Price above the market during that window and the readiest group scrolls past without clicking. Cut the price in month three and those people have bought something else, while newcomers see a stale listing with a history of reductions, which reads as a seller under pressure. The offers that follow are lower than they needed to be.
Put another way: an over-ambitious price does not make a house sell slowly. It makes it sell for less, several months later.
How to tell the price is wrong, and when to act
Do not wait six months to draw a conclusion. The market signals within the first weeks if you know what to watch.
| What happens | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Two weeks and no viewing requests at all | The price is high enough that nobody even clicks, or the photographs are poor | Change the photographs first. If it is still silent after another fortnight, make a meaningful price cut, not a token one |
| Steady viewings but no offers | The price gets people through the door, but what they find does not justify it | The problem is condition or something the photographs did not show. Ask viewers directly what put them off and fix that |
| Offers arriving well below asking, all saying the same thing | The market is telling you the price | Three offers clustered together is the market value, not a lowball |
| The buyer's bank values below the agreed price | The agreed price is above what lenders will support | Negotiate splitting the gap, or move the price to a level the bank accepts, because the next buyer will hit the same wall |
One rule: if you are going to cut, cut once, far enough to move the house into the next price band that a different set of people search. Repeated small reductions do not put you in front of anyone new; they only lengthen the reduction history.
Cheaper things to try before cutting the price
- Retake the photographs. The highest return per baht of anything here. Every light on, counters cleared completely, shot mid-morning or late afternoon when light comes in, and every room including the bathrooms. A listing with no bathroom photograph makes people assume something is being hidden.
- Clear things out. A room with less in it always looks bigger, and buyers want to see the house they will move into, not the house you are living in.
- Fix the small visible things. A dripping tap, a broken switch, blackened grout, a door that will not close. A few thousand baht in total, but they make buyers assume the things they cannot see were treated the same way.
- Deal with smell. Nobody mentions it and it matters enormously. A house that smells musty or of pets is remembered that way. Open it up before every viewing.
- Write a complete listing. Land area, internal area, room count, orientation, year built, common fee. Complete listings attract serious enquiries and filter out the ones that waste everyone's time.
Two decisions that bear directly on price and should be made together with it: whether to sell with the tenant in place or wait for vacancy, which changes both the price and the buyer pool, covered in selling tenanted versus vacant; and how to prepare the property and paperwork before going to market, in selling a property properly.
To see what comparable homes in your area are being listed at, see houses for sale, townhouses for sale, or by province at Bangkok and Nonthaburi. If you would rather have someone research comparables and handle the sale, see the house selling service.
Frequently asked questions
Should I build in room to negotiate?
A little, provided you stay inside the price band people are searching. Padding so much that you fall outside it means nobody sees the listing in the first place, so nobody negotiates at all.
Can I price from the government appraised value?
No. It is the base for fees and taxes at the land office, generally below actual sale prices, and it does not reflect condition or position in the way buyers care about.
I spent a million on extensions. Can I add a million?
Usually not. New kitchens and bathrooms return the most; work done to a personal taste can be a negative because buyers price in removing it.
Two months listed and nobody has contacted me. What now?
Check two things: the photographs and the price. No viewing requests at all means the problem is the listing page rather than the house. Change the photographs first, and if it stays quiet, make one meaningful cut.
Is it better to cut a little at a time?
No. Small repeated cuts do not put the house in front of any new searchers, and they build a reduction history that reads as pressure. Cut once, far enough to reach the next price band.
The buyer's bank valued below our agreed price. What do I do?
Negotiate splitting the difference, or move to a price lenders will support, because the next buyer using a mortgage will meet the same problem.
Agent or sell it myself?
It depends on your time and how familiar you are with the process. What an agent genuinely brings is knowledge of what has actually sold nearby, and filtering out unqualified viewers before they arrive.
Can I change the price later?
You can, but the opening price carries the most weight, because the first two or three weeks are when the listing gets the most attention. Getting it wrong then costs you the readiest buyers.
Key takeaways
- Price from what has actually sold nearby, not from what others are asking.
- Purchase price, government appraisal and the neighbour's asking price all fail to answer the question.
- Take three to five comparables and adjust for each difference rather than averaging.
- The bank's valuation is the real ceiling, because most buyers borrow.
- Deduct the mortgage, transfer fee, taxes and commission before you believe the net figure.
- Pricing high then cutting earns less, because it wastes the first fortnight on the readiest buyers.
- Two weeks with no viewing requests is a listing-page problem. Change the photographs before the price.
- If you cut, cut once and far enough to reach the next price band.