By Phuket News Property Editorial Team · January 12, 2026
Phuket’s property market is often discussed in terms of demand, lifestyle appeal, and land values. Less visible, but equally important, is the supply side of the equation. Construction capacity, build timelines, and development costs are all influenced by labour availability. In Phuket, migrant workers from Myanmar form a significant part of this workforce, making labour dynamics an important factor in understanding property pricing in 2026.
Why labour supply matters in Phuket
Every new villa or condominium project depends on three core inputs: land, materials, and labour. Land prices across Phuket have risen steadily over the past decade. Material costs have also trended upward, especially since the post-pandemic construction rebound. That leaves labour as one of the few variables that can still influence total build cost and delivery speed.
When labour availability tightens, projects take longer to complete. Longer timelines increase financing costs, overheads, and contractor pricing. These pressures eventually feed through to launch prices and resale benchmarks, particularly in high-demand residential areas.
The scale of Myanmar workers in Thailand
Thailand’s construction and service sectors rely heavily on migrant workers from neighbouring countries. Official labour registration data compiled by international migration agencies and Thailand’s Department of Employment shows that, as of January 2025, more than 2.27 million Myanmar nationals were registered as migrant workers in Thailand. This represents the largest single national group within the registered migrant workforce.
Alongside this registered population, migration agencies have also estimated a substantial number of Myanmar nationals living and working in Thailand outside formal registration channels. This gap between registered and irregular status workers is important, because changes in registration rules, enforcement policies, or documentation windows can quickly influence labour availability at local levels.
Phuket’s dependence on migrant labour
Phuket is both a property development market and a tourism-driven service economy. Construction, renovation, maintenance, hospitality upgrades, and infrastructure projects all draw from overlapping labour pools. Provincial labour reporting has consistently highlighted a large registered migrant workforce on the island, with Myanmar nationals forming a major share of that population.
Even during quieter transaction periods, baseline labour demand in Phuket remains high. Villas require continual renovation. Condominiums undergo refits between ownership changes. Hotels and short-term rental properties require constant upkeep. These ongoing activities mean labour demand rarely collapses, even when new project launches slow.
How labour dynamics affect development costs
Labour conditions influence property pricing in three practical ways.
First, build timelines affect pricing. When projects take longer to complete, developers face higher financing and management costs. This often results in firmer launch pricing and reduced flexibility for discounts.
Second, legal compliance affects contractor rates. Where worker registration and documentation processes become more complex or more tightly enforced, administrative and compliance costs increase. Contractors pass these costs through the supply chain.
Third, supply responsiveness becomes constrained. If fewer projects can be delivered quickly, new supply becomes less elastic. This does not always create price surges, but it tends to establish a higher baseline price floor for quality developments in established areas.
What this means for property buyers in 2026
For buyers and investors, labour dynamics are part of the broader cost structure shaping new supply. Rising land values, higher material prices, and tighter labour conditions combine to make replacement cost more expensive than in previous market cycles.
This helps explain why, even when transaction volumes fluctuate, pricing in well-located projects often remains firm. New developments simply cost more to deliver than they did several years ago.
A balanced outlook
Myanmar workers play an essential role in supporting Thailand’s construction and service industries, including Phuket’s property sector. The long-term stability of the market benefits from lawful employment systems, fair treatment, and predictable registration frameworks that allow developers, contractors, and workers to plan with confidence.
In 2026, understanding Phuket’s property market means looking not only at buyer demand but also at the real-world mechanics of supply. Labour availability remains one of the quiet but powerful forces shaping how quickly new homes can be built and how pricing evolves across the island.
