CBRE Forecasts 10 Positive Trends for Cambodian Real Estate Sector in 2022

• 21 January 2022
• Local News
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At the ‘Fearless Forecast 2022: Foundations of a Tiger’ event on Thursday 20 January, CBRE Cambodia forecasted ten positive trends that are likely to occur in the Cambodian real estate sector in 2022 and subsequent years.

After a slump in high-end condominium openings during in the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be zero new high-end condo launches in 2022, excepting affordable and medium-sized properties that will meet the needs of people in the age range of 27-55 years old, said CBRE Managing Director Lawrence Lennon during the presentation.

He added thanks to the vaccination campaign, Cambodia is able to reopen the country. However, international tourist arrivals will remain low, expecting to be only about 20% compared to 2019, when there was over 6 million.

Another major market trend to happen in 2022 would be the use of blockchain-backed fundraising to finance real estate as developers become more creative due to the difficult fundraising environment.

CBRE forecasted that ‘Huawei Moment’ would also possibly occur in Cambodia, citing the large-scale production line model similar to Samsung Moment in Vietnam, and likely to happen to Sihanoukville.

Meanwhile, regarding real estate development in Sihanoukville, only about a quarter or 250 unfinished buildings out of 1,000 unfinished buildings are expected to be rebuilt and redeveloped in 2022.

Despite a crisis, a new international university campus is expected to open in Sihanoukville soon as well.

CBRE also predicted that Phnom Penh and other potential locations are likely to develop into smart cities, thanks to the support from development partners and global trends.

In that direction, Cambodia is also moving toward a greener energy mix. At least five renewable energy projects are scheduled to be completed and launched in 2022.

Regarding the transport sector, CBRE said that Cambodia is moving towards the use of electric vehicles (EV), which will contribute about 30% of new car sales in the next 24 months, as the government plans to develop EV infrastructure.

Last but not least, for the industry section, CBRE said that the concept of environmental, social and governance (ESG) is becoming the focus of Cambodian manufacturers to ensure and meet the needs of consumers in exporting countries that require cleaner production and better work standards.

• Analysis