The recent Covid-19 wave blew away rental residential demand in some cluster locations but boosted a growth of 50% for a website for purchase and rental, according to property portal website DDproperty.com.
The website's country manager Kamolpat Swaengkit said the number of visitors viewing its website in April rose to over 4 million from 3 million in April last year.
Lead inquiries or those asking developers or agents to contact back rose from 50,000 to 70,000.
"The key driver was difficulty in travel," she said. "This suggested there was strong demand though it slowed down during the pandemic."
Of the total website viewers, 10% were foreigners with the highest growth in number among the Chinese. They used Google Translate to search for information about property in Thailand and compared prices.
"Chinese viewers are the target and potential buyers for Thai property," she said. "The top five destinations they were interested in were Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Rayong."
In general, Bangkok remained the top province of interest to foreigners. They searched for properties in inner city locations and along mass transit lines.
By country, those from Japan, European countries and the US mainly searched for rental properties while those from China looked for properties to buy as they wanted to invest and rent out, said Mrs Kamolpat.
DDproperty also carried out a survey this month among 10 locations in Bangkok with a high number of coronavirus infections to see how their property market was impacted by the pandemic.
There were three districts where rental demand dipped in May compared with last month.
These comprised Chatuchak which saw a drop of 24%, followed by Lat Phrao with a decrease of 19% and Klong Toey with a decline of 11%.
"The virus clusters had an impact on people's interest in properties in those locations," she said.
"The impact was particularly huge for the rental market, while those wanting to buy saw a minimal effect as home purchase is a long-term plan."
According to the website, the top five locations in Bangkok which saw a rise in purchase demand in April compared with the same month last year were Yannawa, Thon Buri, Min Buri, Jom Thong and Bang Khae.
The top five locations with a year-on-year growth of rental demand were Pathumwan, Bang Kholaem, Bung Kum, Chatuchak and Bang Sue with a rise of between 150% and 193%.
"Chatuchak and Bang Sue are regularly at the top of the list for rental properties but the new location was Pathumwan district as parents might change from purchase to rent, driven by the work-from-home trend," she added.