Friday, January 12, 2007

Real estate booming in center of Phnom Penh [-Who else besides the elite and gov't officials can afford these?]

By Sam Rith
Phnom Penh Post, Issue 16 / 01, January 12 - 25, 2007

The price of real estate in central Phnom Penh skyrocketed in 2006 and will continue to climb for several years, real estate agents and local officials say.

An increase in demand is driving the trend, and the trendy riverside district has been the most affected, the Post was told.

Sung Bonna, director of Bonna Realty Company, said this year the price of a four or five-story building along Sisowath Quay averages between $300,000 and $400,000. For the ground floor, the price is $120,000 to $180,000 and upper floors are being marketed between $50,000 and $70,000.

"It's going to increase from year to year because it is a significant place with a river view and has lots of tourists," Bonna said. "It's different from a normal place. It is the same as other countries: the price of buildings along the riverfront always increase from year to year."

One house owner, who asked not to be named, said his relatives asked him to sell a 4.8m-by-10m first floor flat along the riverfront near Psar Kandal for $60,000. The same relatives bought it for $20,000 two years ago.

Kong Rith, chief of Sangkat Psar Kandal 1 in Daun Penh district, said the price of real estate in the commune had rocketed in recent years. He ascribes the boom to business opportunities, demand and foreign investment.

According to Rith, two years ago the price of a building was about $150,000. Last year it was more than $200,000, and early this year it is more than $300,000. Buildings just built along the river are now worth significantly more than $300,000, he said.

Rith's commune contains more than 70 buildings along Sisowath Quay.

He said the ground floors of most of the buildings are rented for restaurants, clothing shops, internet cafes and other businesses. About 70 percent of the restaurants along the riverfront are owned by foreigners, but the majority of clothes or Internet shops are Cambodian-owned.

The cost of renting depends on the place and the kind of business that can be operated - a clothing shop or Internet will cost $500 to $600 per month; other businesses are $1,000 to $3,000. A flat on an upper floor will cost from $200 to $400 a month, Rith said.

Chack Puthsophea, 25, who runs a ground-floor clothing and shoe shop, said she pays $400 a month in rent.

Puthsophea said she has sold clothes and shoes along Sisowath Quay for eight years. She said her rent had not increased because her house owner is very kind, but other house owners would raise the price when they saw that their tenants were doing good business.

Bunna said there were two areas in central Phnom Penh where building prices were escalating even faster than on the river front: along Monivong Boulevard and around Psar Thmei a building would sell for between $350,000 and $450,000 because this was the main commercial district..

The price of buildings keeps going higher because they are in a place of high demand, he said.

Across the Tonle Sap in Chruoy Changvar prices are also rising. Nan Keang, architect for the Happiness City Company, said his company is putting up 618 buildings there, with prices ranging from $58,000 to $250,000.

However the price of a building in Chruoy Changvar is lower than in central Phnom Penh, which is the main commercial area and also has a lot of foreigners, Keang said.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The price of the Real Estate in Phnom Penh has been increased due to all corrupted monies earned by corrupted officials cannot be deposited in foreign bank anymore. Therefore they have to compete each other to buy out all these very backward buildings to safeguard their dollars from robbers and bugglers. These prices are very ridiculous because they cannot compare to the living standard and the salaries of the country. Even the income of HUn Sen of say US$4500 per month, it need to take him 10 years to pay off for this kind of house. What about US$ 25/per month teacher salary? It will take more than 100years with out eating to save the monies to buy one of them. Easy earn monies will be easy spent and will be wasted one day. WHO HAS BELIEVED THAT SOSTEN FERNANDES HAS RAN OUT OF MONIES? Unbilievable!!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, these prices are quite high for Cambodia. What a huge gap of income between the rich and the poor.

Anonymous said...

it is obvious that land grabbing has been really happening.

what is really happening is that the foreigners come to Cambodia to bribed the government officials for a piece of land; and then they sell that piece of land to whomever interested to buy at a fix-higher price.

they steal our properties right before our eyes and then they sell back to us at a higher price.

with your PhDs, how dumb could that be?

it's time for regime for the better of Cambodia and her people.

Anonymous said...

The real estate in Nom Benh are the stealing properties of those were killed during Khmer Rouge regime....It's the
Blood-Money that had make Khmers are fighting among ourselve.
Hun Sen & CPP inc are the Thugs who enjoyed these stain blood-Money...once they were the Murderers themselve.