[indianmagicoil]

Khun Sanook's breakdown is the reality of living in Bangkok at a certain lifestyle level. You must stay in Bangkok long term to realize that it is not as "cheap" as many people on a short holiday think. Sure that bowl of noodles cost BHT30 compared to Singapore but add in a "middle class" lifestyle that many of us wish to live here and it all adds up. You can live as you do in Singapore i.e. keep the restaurants, clubbing & chionging to a minimum but then why would I want to leave Singapore right?

Many of my newly wed Thai friends all choose to live in the suburbs because owning a house in central Bangkok is expensive. BHT 1 million+ gets you a small studio in Rachada but a house in Don Muang. Property values in Thailand will continue to rise so long as the fundamentals of the Thai economy is sound. Even with the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 property prices just moves up. I looked at a few small condos in On Nut & Ari. Then was averaging BHT300,000 (if my memory serves me right) but now its at least a million plus up.

Buying a house might be out of the question if you are not a Thai national. Even if you married a Thai the house will still be registered under her name. So that leaves condos or strata titled property for us.