Furnished vs Unfurnished: What Bangkok Landlords Should Offer

A friend of mine owns a two bedroom unit at Life Sukhumvit 48 near Phra Khanong BTS. He spent about 180,000 THB furnishing it with a nice sofa set, a smart TV, a solid dining table, and quality mattresses. His unit rents for 28,000 THB per month and rarely sits empty for more than two weeks. The identical layout one floor up, left completely bare by its owner, has been listed at 18,000 THB for three months with zero takers. That gap tells you something important about how Bangkok's rental market actually works and what tenants here expect when they search for a condo.

If you are a landlord trying to figure out whether to furnish your unit or leave it empty, this is the guide that breaks it all down for the Bangkok market specifically. Not some generic landlord advice column. Real numbers, real neighborhoods, real tenant behavior.

What Bangkok Tenants Actually Expect

Let's be honest. The vast majority of condo tenants in Bangkok expect a furnished unit. This is not like renting in London or New York where unfurnished is the norm. Here, "ready to move in" is the baseline. That means a bed, a wardrobe, a sofa, a TV, a fridge, a washing machine, and a microwave at minimum. Tenants searching near Asok BTS or Phrom Phong BTS are scrolling through dozens of listings that already include all of this. If yours does not, they simply skip to the next one.

Expats make up a huge portion of the rental market in areas like Thong Lo, Ekkamai, and Sathorn. Most of them are on one or two year contracts and they are not about to buy furniture for a temporary stay. Japanese expats near Phrom Phong, European professionals around Sala Daeng, digital nomads in Ari. They all want to show up with a suitcase and start living. Offering an unfurnished unit to this crowd is basically taking your property off the market voluntarily.

The Real Cost of Furnishing a Bangkok Condo

Furnishing does not have to drain your bank account. For a studio or one bedroom condo, you can get a solid, tenant ready setup for 60,000 to 90,000 THB. A two bedroom unit typically runs 120,000 to 200,000 THB depending on quality. Places like Index Living Mall, SB Furniture, and even IKEA Bang Na offer packages that work well for rental properties. You do not need designer pieces. You need durable, clean, and functional items.

Consider a studio at The Base Park West near On Nut BTS. Unfurnished, it might fetch 9,000 to 10,000 THB per month. Furnished with decent basics, you can list it at 13,000 to 15,000 THB. That extra 4,000 to 5,000 THB per month means you recover your furnishing investment in about 12 to 18 months. After that, it is pure upside. Plus your vacancy periods shrink dramatically because furnished units move faster on the market.

One tip from experience. Buy furniture with rounded edges, neutral colors, and wipeable surfaces. Tenants change every year or two. You want pieces that survive multiple occupants without looking beaten up.

When Unfurnished Actually Makes Sense

There are a few specific scenarios where going unfurnished is not a terrible idea. If you own a larger unit, say a three bedroom at a place like Supalai Premier Ratchathewi or a townhouse off Sukhumvit Soi 71, your target tenant might be a Thai family or a long term expat family on a three to five year assignment. These tenants sometimes prefer to bring their own furniture or have a relocation company handling the setup.

In this case, you might offer the unit "partially furnished" with only built in wardrobes, air conditioning units, curtains, and kitchen appliances. This gives the tenant flexibility while still showing that the unit is well maintained and move in ready. Listing at this level still works, especially for units above 50,000 THB per month where tenants have more specific taste and bigger budgets.

But for anything under 35,000 THB per month in central Bangkok, the math and the market both favor fully furnished. That is just the reality of how renters search and what they compare.

Furnished Quality Matters More Than You Think

Here is where a lot of landlords get it wrong. They furnish the unit once with the cheapest items they can find, then never touch it again. Five years later, the mattress is sagging, the sofa fabric is peeling, and the washing machine sounds like a helicopter. Tenants notice. They leave negative feedback with agents. They do not renew leases. And your unit gets a quiet reputation as one to avoid.

Walk through a well managed building like Ideo Q Sukhumvit 36 near Thong Lo BTS and compare two similar units. One has a clean, modern setup with a firm mattress and a working induction stove. The other has mismatched furniture from 2014. The first one rents at 22,000 THB within a week. The second one sits at 19,000 THB and still struggles. The difference is not the price. It is the feeling a tenant gets when they walk in.

Budget around 10,000 to 15,000 THB per year for minor furniture upkeep and replacements. A new mattress every three to four years, fresh curtains, maybe a replacement microwave. This small ongoing cost keeps your unit competitive and protects your monthly rental income.

What to Include in Your Furnished Package

If you are ready to furnish, here is a practical checklist based on what tenants in Bangkok consistently expect. A bed frame and mattress, a wardrobe or closet system, a sofa, a coffee table, a TV with a wall mount, a dining table with chairs, a refrigerator, a microwave, a washing machine, and at least two air conditioning units for a one bedroom. Curtains or blinds are essential. A shoe rack near the front door is a small touch that tenants genuinely appreciate.

Optional but increasingly expected items include a smart TV with Netflix capability, a clothes drying rack for the balcony, and basic kitchen utensils. Some landlords near Ari BTS and Ratchathewi have started adding a small Nespresso machine to their units as a differentiator. It costs 3,000 THB and it genuinely helps a listing stand out in photos.

The bottom line for Bangkok landlords is straightforward. Furnished units rent faster, rent for more money, and attract more reliable tenants. Unless you are targeting a very specific long term family demographic in a larger unit, furnishing your condo is not optional. It is the single best investment you can make in your rental property's performance. If you want to see how your listing compares to similar furnished units in your area, check out the tools at superagent.co to get a clear picture of where you stand in the market.