Haad Salad is one of a growing number of beaches in Koh Phangan that can boast a private villa development. Bay Residence is a large development offering plots of land and finished builds for sale. The site is a short drive from Haad Salad beach.

From 2000 to 2008 there was a housing boom in Thailand. The laws of Thailand seemed to permit a circumlocutious path to foreign ownership and the world economy was booming. As a result lots of people were looking to buy their dream holiday home in Thailand.

Koh Samui particularly developed a lot of land for villas, both one-offs and estates. The estate agents even offered credit in some cases.

The vast jump in land prices in Koh Samui triggered a rise in land prices on the neighboring island of Koh Phangan. The belief was that Koh Phangan would turn into property hotspot, especially as soon as an airport was put in place. It seemed a fair bet and since Koh Phangan land was comparatively cheap many felt Koh Phangan represented a great commercial opportunity. As a consequence land prices shot up from half a million a rai to over 3 million.

Those who got in ‘at the ground floor’ in many cases made the decision to really capitalize on the land they had purchased by developing luxury villas for sale.

The property development and land selling business took a serious dip in 2008 with the collapse of stock exchanges around the world. The market is slightly picking up in 2013 but any real boom is being hampered by the drawn out political instability caused by the conflict between the reds and the yellows.

I am only guessing the history of Bay Residence in Haad Salad, but it is likely that it fits in with the above potted history in the sense that the land was probably bought cheaply and the investors sought to maximize their return by building villas for sale.

I did a bit of research and discovered that Phangan Island Property is probably both the estate agent and the developer for Bay Residence. It is fairly typical that estate agents in places like Koh Phangan and Koh Samui are also property developers. It might seem a slight conflict of interests to a Westerner.

Bay Residence is a big housing development set on the hills behind Haad Salad. It is similar in set up to a Koh Samui estate. There are about 6 houses that have been built or are being built. There are also plots available for sale.

The villas have a swimming pool with a view, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The ground floor is all-glass fronted to maximize the views. They have a small kitchen with pantry. The guest room features an en suite bathroom, walk in closet and private balcony.

In total the villas have 550 sq meters in land space and 220 sq meters of indoor space. The villas have a chanote title. From the estate agent website it is unclear whether the villas on the estate up for sale are available for purchase on a lease or as a freehold. The villa on the Phangan Island Property website for sale costs 8.95 million Thai Baht, reduced from 9.95 million Thai Baht.

If your dream is to own your private villa in Haad Salad then Bay Residence can make that dream come true. For those doing the math as regards a villa renting business you could expect to rent a 3 bed room villa in Haad Salad for between 7,000 and 9,000 Thai Baht a night.

For more about land titles, ownership issues in Thailand and other villa related topics see www.propertysalethailand.blogspot.com