Expert: Real Estate Market in Cambodia Needs Three More Years to Recover to Pre-Pandemic Level

• 18 October 2022
• Local News
• 1699 Views

Despite the slowdown of the international economy, the real estate sector in Cambodia remains robust with a gradual positive recovery, expecting to reach pre-COVID levels within the next three years, according to Managing Director of PropNex Cambodia Thida Ann.

Ms Thida explained that despite the challenges, the Cambodian economy is still growing at around 5% – 10% each year, which is a good figure, so the real estate sector will also follow this growth trend.

“Besides, infrastructure development has been expanding both in Phnom Penh and in the provinces, making the real estate sector, especially the land market, grow bigger as well, ” she explained.

“The next sector that will grow fast is industry. Investors are very interested in Cambodia these days as they want to diversify their investments by moving factories from China to countries in Southeast Asia, such as Cambodia and Vietnam,” she said.

Cambodia is a good destination as land prices are still reasonable and labor costs are low. Even with the utility costs being quite high, Cambodia is working on this area, she added.

According to Ms Thida, agriculture is another major sector that drives Cambodia’s economic growth. Although not directly affecting the real estate sector, it will indirectly affect the growth of people’s income, which makes them want to invest in real estate.

“However, the agricultural sector needs the help of the government and the development of new technologies to make it stronger,” said Ms. Thida.

“For the office sector, rental prices have remained stable while the quality of commercial buildings has also improved. Supply is still limited, so prices will rise within a year,” she added.

Meanwhile, Cambodia’s tourism sector is recovering steadily, which is also good for the economy and the real estate’s sector, such as hotels and guesthouses

According to the Ministry of Tourism, the number of tourists has reached half of the pre-COVID figures and is expected to reach 6 million in the next three years.

“However, the sector that is still under a lot of pressure is the retail sector as the supply is high and the local people’s purchasing power is still limited,” said Ms. Thida.

• Analysis