Despite, or because of, the coup on Tuesday 19 September, Phuket developers are seeing increased interest from international buyers. After several months of muted interest from international buyers following the crackdown on foreign investment in property and Thai companies, buyers now appear to be returning to the island.

One developer, who asked to remain nameless, told Phuket Post that he had been inundated with requests about a piece of land he had been trying to sell for over a year. ?Last week we had three people interested in a plot of land we had for sale,? the developer told the Post. ?Yesterday [Saturday 24 September] one buyer called to make a definite offer. When the second called and I told him the land was already under offer, he said he?d take the other plot we had. Then the third called and said he would improve on the first offer we?d received so he could get that first plot.?

Henri Young of Raimon Land ? which is currently marketing its Kata Heights project in Phuket ? told the Post that the company had seen considerable buyer interest in Phuket since the takc-over by General Sonthi Bunyaratkarin. ?We sold two properties in Phuket just yesterday,? he told the Post on Sunday. Referring to the coup, Mr Young, said, ?We are very happy with what is happening in Thailand right now.?

Red Graham of the Barama Bay resort island development was equally upbeat. ?We?ve had some real solid leads and positive enquiries since the coup,? he told the Post. ?It?s looking good.?

Real estate agents are so far reporting a muted but interested response from the international market. Indigo RE?s Nick Anthony, in Hong Kong, said that, directly after the coup seemed in a hurry to invest in Phuket. ?They were coming to me and asking, ?What can I buy???

At Indigo?s Phuket office, however, Tom Travers told the Post, they had seen little additional interest from buyers. Another international agent on the island, meanwhile, told the Post that he had received half a dozen emails from people all dismissive of the change in political leadership. ?They all basically said: ?I thought Thailand was a democratic country. Now I?ll be buyng somewhere else.'?