This is a point with which Anthony Lark, managing director of Trisara, is in complete agreement. Trisara is, by any measure, an extraordinary project. It comprises 14 luxury villas worth around US$3 million each set among 52 acres (1 rai = 2/5 of an acre = 0.16 of a hectare) of primary rain forest above a pristine stretch of beach on the west coast. The villa complex will soon be adjoined by 33 equally high-class hotel rooms featuring the finest modern amenities and their own individual Infinity pools overlooking the sea beyond. Upon completion, the company claims, Trisara will be Asia's finest and most exclusive resort.

If all that sounds tempting, then you're out of luck - despite its ultra-exclusive price tag, Trisara sold out completely within months of the packages being put on the market. "The reason we've been successful," Anthony Lark explains, "is because we have sold a very clearly defined long-term management philosophy. After the villas have been built, Trisara will remain fully committed to the owners." This means that as well as having access to the resort's spa, three tennis courts, two restaurants and three yachts, the owners will also have their own dedicated general manager and a full rental service available to them if they wish to generate income from the villas while they are not in residence.

Anthony Lark is hopeful that Trisara will help to promote the development of more high-end resorts on Phuket. "Compared to Bali, for example," he says, "where there are more than 20 ultra-exclusive resort and villa complexes, Phuket has had only had one since the Amanpuri opened 11 years ago. Trisara will be the first hotel to challenge the Amanpuri's rate."

Far from seeing Trisara strictly as competition, Aman founder Adrian Zecha has welcomed the development, reportedly saying that "Trisara is a wonderful development because it's adding another luxury property to an island which greatly needs more high-end [resort] developments."

Trisara will of course put the once obscure stretch of coastline around Layan firmly on the map. This can only be beneficial to other developments in the area, such as Vichuda Hills. A small project, just down the road from Trisara, which will comprise of seven individually designed luxury houses on a quiet, picturesque hilltop with panoramic views over Bangtao Bay.

Hong Kong- and Singapore-based expats are still the largest identifiable group of buyers in the Phuket property market, although there is now a new emphasis on a younger, more active buyer group. Each year, the children of working foreigners with business interests in Phuket significantly increase the roll of the island's largest international school, Dulwich International College. Many foreigners now no longer see their property on the island as a holiday home to visit once or twice a year, but as a permanent base from which they can manage investment and business interests in the entire region, if not world-wide.

Developments that fall into the 20-40 million baht (US$1 = about 41 baht) "mid-range" price bracket such as Baan Thai Surin Hill and Ayara Baan Thai Cherng Lay, both in the hills above Surin, have successfully capitalized on this market. The brainchild of Veerasak Sirivansanti, who was the principal builder of the Amanpuri, Ayara has been so successful that a second project is now under way on the "Diamond Mile" between Kamala and Patong. This stretch of brand-new highway, which has been doggedly snaking along the coastline from Kamala for the past three years and will eventually connect with Patong at the other end, is the developer's symbolic hotspot where fortunes can be made (and spent).

Like its Surin predecessor, Ayara Baan Thai Kamala will be sold "off plan" to allow buyers maximum personal input into their dream home and offer the same mix of traditional Thai-style architecture coupled with the latest in modern home infrastructure and - obligatory in this price bracket - breathtaking sea views. "I don't like to think of the properties we're building as villas," says Khun Veerasak, "but rather as homes for people to live in permanently. I've seen the infrastructure on the island improve significantly over the years. Phuket is unique in the region, and will hold increasing appeal to families currently living in Hong Kong, Singapore, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur who realize it's now possible to live and work in Phuket just as easily." As an example of this emerging trend, Khun Veerasak also cites the fact that several of Ayara's residents currently commute between Phuket and Hong Kong on a weekly basis.

Property in developments such as Ayara also holds considerable appeal as a safe and solid investment in these days of constantly fluctuating stock markets. Anyone who buys now can expect to see a significant capital appreciation over the years as well as having a highly rentable commodity that should see them through any lean times.

The image of the avaricious corporate raider bullishly snapping up a portfolio of million-dollar properties to off-load for large profits in the future can be overstated. William Pinsent is familiar with the big-spending high roller through the success of his own high-end Jomchang project, and sees this end of the market on Phuket as having a finite lifespan. "These properties haven't been bought by people to speculate, and it is not a purely financial investment that anyone makes when they buy a luxury villa here. It's somewhere they're going to have fun in and enjoy. A villa is part of their portfolio of possessions, alongside their cars, yachts and other properties that they own around the world. This means that, even if owners don't find time to use their villa, they're very unlikely to sell, so I don't see a huge number of units coming back on the market."

Coupled with the fact that all the prime sites for construction on the west coast have already been bought, the opportunity to join this most exclusive of property clubs is now limited. The construction of Jomchang, which occupies a magnificent and secluded piece of headland south of Kamala, will begin at the end of the year. Only 11 villas are being built on 35 rai (1 rai = 2/5 of an acre = 0.16 of a hectare) of land, ensuring that privacy is one of the key features of the development. This is made possible by the fact that all the buildings fit into the contours of the land and ensures that no one will overlook their neighbours. Each villa is also fully adapted to the existing natural environment of the site. In common with the other successful projects on the island, the developers have found that this environmental awareness is a useful marketing tool to stand alongside high-quality management as a major selling point.

With much of the best land now gone, developers are having to think laterally in order to chase different marketplace sectors, which can only be good news for people who don't have US$2-3 million to spend on a property. Developers are either having to look further south, as is the case with the highly successful Katamanda project and the upcoming Baan Kataburi, both in the hills above Kata, or exploit the benefits of a location with high recognition value, as is the case with Laguna Golf Villas that are located on the Banyan Tree Golf Club's lush fairways and include free lifetime golf membership and full access to all the facilities at Laguna Phuket in the purchase price. Also benefiting from a close proximity to Laguna, is Lakewood Hills, the second development from the Lakeshore Villas team, which will feature three, four and five bedroom villas in the 15-32 million baht price range.

However, William Pinsent cites numerous customers visiting Phuket Land to look for 5-7 million baht properties and leaving, disappointed at the lack of options on the island. Ironically the problem is that cash is often easier to generate on high-end and mid-range properties than on lower-value ones, which require up-front investment and construction.

This gap in the market is occasionally being filled, but a degree of diversification is necessary to marry price, location and quality. A good example of this is found at the Boat Lagoon development currently being undertaken by Andaman Properties. Although her family still own large swathes of land on the Diamond Mile road between Kamala and Patong, managing director Sunata Kolsamon and her partner Rolf Jannson have instead elected to think small and have recently begun construction on a small project at the Boat Lagoon. Offering full Western-standard design and construction, the four spacious townhouses are finished in marble and teak, directly overlook the lagoon and include personal moorings out front. They fall firmly into the 5-7 million baht price bracket and further benefit from offering full access to all the Boat Lagoon's facilities, which include a pool, fitness centre and several restaurants.

"We're the first private development within the Lagoon," Rolf Jannson says. "The location may not be close to a beach, but I believe that the quality of the houses and the facilities on offer compensate for that. In this price range it's also possible to build all the houses first, so people can see exactly what they are getting and do not have to buy off-plan." A canny investor may also figure that the project's proximity to the new multi-million dollar marina complex will not do any harm to local property values.

Currently displaying probably the most flexible attitude to development on the island (and perhaps pointing to the future for several of the other big players) Asia Island Homes have found success through covering as many angles in the market as possible. The company is responsible for the 40-50 million baht modernist west-coast Samsara development, the 8-10 million baht lakeside Surin Spring, and the beachfront condominium project Baan Chai Nam.

The company can now successfully offset the relatively time-consuming process of completing a sale on Samsara against the swifter cash flow being generated by the smaller projects. The lower end of the market is also providing immediate profit for their customers, as managing director Colin McKay explains: "Several of the Surin Spring buyers have bought and resold different properties in the project several times. They've bought a property off-plan and then sold it mid-way through construction for considerable profit. In this market, a completed property is much easier to sell and, as we begin to complete the landscaping, the house values are rising again. Just like anywhere else, a variety of factors affect property values. For example, if you buy in the rainy season and then sell a few months later in the high season, you're more or less guaranteed a decent profit."

With Asia Island Homes' first three projects now approaching completion (and four more in advanced stages of development), the company is looking to fuel future growth by floating on the MAI stock exchange for developing companies. It's a bold move, but one that seems in keeping with the new international outlook of the big developers on the island. All the companies benefit from local skills, workforce and financing, but are increasingly bringing in the big guns to help realize their dreams and achieve the highest possible standards. Samsara, for example, is being built by Thai Leighton, a subsidiary of the Australian construction giant. Trisara is using British firm Bovis, and Ayara is utilizing one of the world's leading landscaping firms, Belt Collins Hong Kong Limited, at Ayara Baan Thai Kamala.

As long as supply is never again allowed to outstrip demand, as happened in 1997, the Phuket property market is more or less guaranteed future growth. The events of 1997, when developers borrowed heavily against projects that would never be completed, have now been put firmly in the past (though lessons have been learned) by the current cash-driven boom.

As the effects of 11 September 2001 show, furthermore, the market is now able to weather the most severe of upheavals. While property sales froze in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks, they have since stabilized and then grown substantially as people look for a safe place to put their money. This recovery was almost immediate, whereas 12 years ago, after the Gulf War managed to bring to an end Phuket's first property boom, the market didn't recover for several years. This current resilience would appear to underline once and for all that, providing you can afford it, there really has never been a better time to make the move to paradise.