BANGKOK -- Thai real estate companies are buying more properties in Europe, a clear shift toward developed economies amid a prolonged slump in Thailand's housing market.

In September, Thai property developer Sansiri bought The Lake Como Edition -- a five-star hotel on Lake Como in northern Italy's Lombardy region -- for 200 million euro ($225 million). The hotel's average daily rate is roughly 1,500 euros.

The acquisition "strengthens our financial resilience and diversifies risk across our global hospitality portfolio," said Napat Thavisin, president of international operations at Sansiri.

The hotel was bought from U.S. investment firm Bain Capital through a fund affiliated with the Thai property company.

Sansiri has focused on growth through the housing business since its 1984 founding, but has recently begun to move away from a reliance on the residential market, expanding to investment in income-generating properties such as high-end hotels.

In 2023, the company acquired luxury hotel assets in New York's Soho district. Sansiri also took a majority stake in the U.S.-based hotel chain Standard International, which it later sold to Hyatt Hotels after improving the asset's value, successfully recovering its investment.

Frasers Property, the real estate development unit of Thai conglomerate TCC Group, has also bolstered investments in European assets, announcing in May that it would acquire logistics facilities in Germany and the Netherlands for roughly 295 million euros.

Frasers said the countries are among Europe's leading economies and that growth in logistics demand was expected there in the medium to long term. Since 2023, the company has been acquiring properties including development sites for logistics facilities and warehouses, mainly in Germany, expanding its key area of European logistics. Thailand's Central Group owns Rinascente, an upscale Italian department store chain.

Acquisitions like these are being driven in part by structural changes in Thailand's market. Thai lenders have tightened mortgage screening criteria amid persistently high household debt ratios. Recovery in housing demand has been slow.

The total housing sales value in this year's April-June quarter fell 25% year-on-year, according to the Real Estate Information Center (REIC) under Thailand's Government Housing Bank. While unit supply has remained basically flat, sales prices have continued to decline, putting pressure on the earnings of real estate companies.

Sansiri's consolidated revenue for April-June 2026 decreased 14% on the year to 7.5 billion baht ($220 million). Net profit slipped 17% to 1 billion baht. These results highlight the risks of relying on the domestic housing market.

The shift toward European investments is more than just geographic diversification, as companies aim to build cash flows with rental and hospitality income. Securing income in foreign currencies and spreading out risk are also major parts of the strategy. Thai property companies are eyeing investment targets beyond Europe as well.

Ananda Development is considering entering the Japanese property development market, including Tokyo. In Bangkok, it is working with Germany's Porsche to develop the brand's first ultra-luxury condominium project in Asia. The company is also weighing mixed-use developments that could eventually combine hotels and commercial facilities.

Thai companies looking to expand overseas are taking retail giant Central Group as a model. Central has acquired department store businesses in the U.K. and Germany, along with Italian luxury department store Rinascente, developing Europe into a key market.

As population growth slows and Thailand's housing market matures, major property developers are following Central's example. For Thai companies, the center of growth is gradually shifting from the domestic market to overseas.