As of this year, Thailand´s Bangkok Bank has begun offering mortgage loans to foreigners living and working in Thailand who want to buy residential property.  However, because commercial banks in Thailand are not permitted to offer loans to foreigners directly, potential homeowners must apply for a mortgage loan at Bangkok Bank´s branch office in Singapore.  Borrowers can obtain financing of up to 70% of the property´s appraised value with a limit of S$1 million (about US$592,000). 

The mortgage loans have a maximum maturity of 10 years, denominated in either US dollars or Singapore dollars.  The interest rate for US dollar-denominated loans is the Bangkok Bank´s US dollar prime lending rate plus 0.5% per annum.  The interest rate for Singapore dollar-denominated loans is Bangkok Bank´s Singapore dollar prime lending rate per annum.  Expatriates working in Thailand can repay the mortgage using local currency from their salaries. 

The bank charges a processing fee of S$5,000 (US$2,960) upon the customer´s acceptance of the loan offer, of which S$2,000 (US$1,184) is refunded once the customer actually draws on the loan.  Once the purchaser of the property pays the downpayment of the difference between the cost of the property and the loan amount, the loan can be drawn.

Until now, foreigners who wanted to purchase property in Thailand had little choice other than to pay in cash that had to be sent from abroad, not locally.