Mid-term rental vs long-term lease: the real numbers for a Bangkok 1-bedroom
For a Bangkok 1-bedroom condo in a central building, mid-term rental beats a long-term lease — every time we've run the numbers. Here's the math, with a real example.
If you own a 1-bedroom condo in central Bangkok and you don't live in it, you have two realistic ways to earn from it:
- Long-term lease — sign a 12 or 24-month lease through an agent, collect monthly rent, repeat at term end.
- Mid-term rental — operate as a fully-furnished short-stay (1–6 month) rental, professionally managed.
Most foreign owners default to option 1 because it's what their agent offers and it sounds simpler. We've run the math across our portfolio: for a 1-bedroom in a central Bangkok building, mid-term rental beats long-term every time — usually by 25–30% on take-home, and by a much bigger margin on property care.
For 2-bedrooms it's more nuanced and depends on the specific unit. We'll come back to that.
This article shows the actual numbers, side-by-side, for a real Bangkok building.
A real example: 1-bedroom at Maru Ekkamai 2
Maru Ekkamai 2 is a 2020 build in Ekkamai, walking distance to BTS. A typical 1-bedroom there is 42 sqm. We've run hundreds of bookings across similar units. The achievable rates today:
- Mid-term: the building's full-month Airbnb rate for a 1-BR is ~69,300 THB
- Long-term: ~822 THB / sqm / month (from Hipflat real-market data)
But neither of those is the owner's take-home. Both models carry costs that the listing rates don't show. Here's the honest comparison, using the same occupancy approach we surface elsewhere on the site (92% portfolio average for mid-term; a 14-day annual vacancy buffer for long-term lease).
Mid-term rental — full breakdown
| Line item | THB / month |
|---|---|
| Full-month rent (if booked solidly) | 69,300 |
| × 92% portfolio occupancy | × 0.92 |
| Gross monthly revenue | 63,756 |
| − Airbnb host fee (15.5%) | − 9,882 |
| Net from Airbnb | 53,874 |
| − Cleaning passthrough (charged to guest, paid to housekeeping) | − 1,840 |
| − Maison Siam management fee (20% of net after cleaning) | − 10,407 |
| Owner income before unit costs | 41,627 |
| − Electricity quota (owner-funded, flat per building) | − 1,500 |
| − Internet (flat, owner-paid) | − 700 |
| − CAM (building common-area fee, 75 × 42) | − 3,150 |
| Net monthly take-home (mid-term) | 36,277 |
| Annualised | THB 435,324 / year |
Long-term lease — full breakdown
12-month lease, agent finds tenant for one month's commission, tenant pays utilities directly. Owner still pays CAM, agent commission, and absorbs the typical re-let vacancy gap:
| Line item | THB / year |
|---|---|
| Annual rent (822 × 42 × 12) | 414,288 |
| − Vacancy buffer (14 days / year) | − 15,891 |
| − Agency commission (1 month / year, amortised) | − 34,524 |
| − CAM (75 × 42 × 12) | − 37,800 |
| Net annual take-home (long-term) | THB 326,073 / year |
| Monthly equivalent | 27,173 |
The delta
| Mid-term | Long-term | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net annual | 435,324 | 326,073 | +109,251 |
| Net monthly equivalent | 36,277 | 27,173 | +9,104 |
| % difference | +33% |
On this exact unit, mid-term earns the owner roughly 109,000 THB more per year — about a third more take-home. That's not a marginal win; that's a structurally better outcome.
Why the gap is this big
Two structural reasons:
Per-sqm rate spread. Bangkok's mid-term market has expanded materially since the DTV visa launched in 2024. Furnished, professionally-managed units in central neighbourhoods now command roughly 2× the per-sqm rate of unfurnished long-term equivalents. That premium more than absorbs the management fee, the Airbnb fee, and the operational overhead.
Costs that don't scale. Internet (700 THB), agency fees, and CAM are fixed regardless of which model you choose. The mid-term gross is large enough to comfortably support its variable costs and still leave more cash for the owner.
This isn't a one-off result. We see the same pattern across every 1-bedroom in our actual portfolio — Ekkamai, Asoke, Phrom Phong, Sukhumvit, Sathorn. Per-sqm STR rates are 1.7–2.2× LTR rates, and the take-home advantage holds.
What about 2-bedrooms?
For 2-bedrooms (typically 55–75 sqm in central Bangkok), the picture is less clear-cut:
- Mid-term per-sqm rates compress somewhat at larger sizes — the premium is smaller in percentage terms.
- Long-term per-sqm rates hold relatively steady for 2-bedroom family-suitable units.
- Cleaning passthrough and management fees scale with revenue, not with sqm — so a larger unit doesn't proportionally amplify operational costs.
The honest answer for a 2-bedroom: it depends on what your specific unit actually achieves. In premium buildings (Ploenchit, Phrom Phong premium) the gap can still be 15–20% in mid-term's favour. In less-central locations or older buildings, long-term lease can come within a few percent of mid-term — and at that point the simplicity argument starts to matter.
For a 2-bedroom owner, the right move is to run the numbers for your specific unit, not to assume. We do this in our free income estimator — or send us your unit details and we'll do the full side-by-side.
What mid-term costs that the numbers don't show
The take-home math is the headline. Three operational realities sit underneath:
Setup cost. A mid-term-ready unit needs to be fully furnished — bed, sofa, kitchen, full linens, working appliances. This is typically a one-time investment of 150,000–250,000 THB depending on starting condition. Long-term unfurnished requires zero setup. (Long-term furnished does require setup, and we see most premium long-term tenants demanding furnished anyway.)
Operational complexity. 8–10 turnovers a year vs 0–1 for long-term. This complexity is real, but it's also why the management fee exists. From the owner's perspective, you write one check; the manager handles the complexity.
Variance. A long-term lease locks income for a year. Mid-term varies month to month — high season (Nov–Feb) is well above average; rainy season is well below. Annualised numbers smooth this out, but if you're cash-flow sensitive month-to-month, the variance is a real consideration.
None of these change the conclusion for a 1-bedroom. They do affect when long-term is the right call.
When long-term lease is genuinely the right answer
Long-term still wins if:
- You're holding short-term, under ~18 months until you sell. Setup costs don't amortise.
- Your building forbids stays under specific minimums that are incompatible with mid-term. Some condos require 6-month minimums.
- You have a tenant pre-identified — a friend, family, returning corporate placement — at a strong rate. The agent commission disappears.
- You don't trust any operator in the market and would rather have an agent place a tenant and disappear, vs an active manager you have to monitor.
For most central-Bangkok 1-bedrooms, none of these apply. Mid-term is the answer.
The third option most owners miss
There's a middle path: long-term lease through an agent, with Asset Care representing you on the ground. The agent finds the tenant, you sign a 12-month lease, the rent flows — but a manager inspects your property twice a year, handles tenant issues, manages utilities, and reports honestly. You keep long-term simplicity, gain back operational oversight.
For some owners — particularly those holding a property they may want to live in eventually, or who genuinely want minimal complexity — this is the right balance.
How to decide for your unit
- 1-bedroom in central Bangkok? Mid-term wins. Use our estimator to see the number for your specific building.
- 2-bedroom? Run the numbers both ways. Tell us about your unit and we'll do it.
- House or villa? Different game — daily rental can be on the table. We assess case by case.
- Short hold horizon, or operational complexity is unacceptable? Long-term lease, ideally with Asset Care.
The right answer depends on the property. The wrong answer is to assume the agent's default is best for you — for most 1-bedroom owners, it isn't.