PHUKET: Land taxes on Phuket are expected to increase by 51 percent early in the new year - matching the amount that property has increased in value on Phuket over the past four years.

Phuket tops all 77 provinces in Thailand for its increase in the average property price, Phuketwan was told today, challenged only by the northern province of Udonthani where prices have risen by 45 percent.

Like the Andaman holiday island province, Udonthani prices have been pushed higher by overseas investors. In the case of the northern province, these include a large number of foreign husbands settling in Thailand.

Phuket Treasury Director Tamrong Tongtan confirmed today that the new property valuation rates were due to be announced on January 1, and that Phuket would top the list.

Land valuations in Thailand are compiled on a complicated formula that takes into account the number of years the property has been owned and reduces the tax over time.

While the new rates are for the whole province of Phuket, observers suspect that west coast prices around Patong especially have risen much faster in the past four years than those on Phuket's east coast.