New Riches, New Problems in Land Sales

By Win Thida, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
05 August 2008

Click here to listen to the Khmer audio program

Eth Thang lived happily with her husband until they sold a house and two fields of paddy for $2,000. Eight cars, $10,000 in debt and an absent husband later, she regrets the decision.

Over the past few years, land sales have jumped, creating windfalls for many Cambodians. However, not everyone is spending the new money wisely.

In Phnom Penh, land that once sold for $20 per square meter now sells for $6,000 per square meter. In Siem Reap, Battambang and Sihanoukville, land has gone from $5 per square meter to $2,000 per square meter.

Soung Bunna, a realtor, said recently the high prices were driven by political stability and economic improvement, making people want to live "very clean and modern." But the booming land prices have also meant that some Cambodians have gone into debt, unaware of the dangers of the market.

Other Cambodians have been able to make money, making the rising price of land a good thing, said Kong Chandararoth, an economic analyst and director of the Economic Development Institute.

"It's a way for people who don't have money to have an opportunity," he said. "They can sell and make money. But what will they spend the money on?"

Poor choices after the land sale can have a negative impact, he said.

Eth Thang, who lives about 20 kilometers from central Phnom Penh, in Dangkao district, had a good life two years ago. She and her husband were farmers, spending their days together, tending rice fields.

They had two fields and one house, and another parcel of land not far away, though they had no motorbike or car.

When land hit $2,000 per square meter, they sold the two fields and house, moving to the other piece of land and building a small wooden house on stilts.

Eth Thang bought a motorbike for her children and a car for her husband, she recalled recently.

But it wasn't long before her husband took a mistress, and began changing cars.

He went through eight cars, and now her children are asking her for another motorbike, an expense she can ill afford.

With no paddy and no income, she has been forced to sell her house and borrow $10,000, a debt she still owes.

"Now I've sold the motorbike as well," she told VOA Khmer. "We do not have enough money to buy rice to eat, or for other expenses. My husband has sold the car and expended the money with a young girl."

HRP concerned about land price increase

Monday, May 12, 2008
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The HRP expressed its concerns that future generations of children of civil servants, soldiers, police officers, workers and the majority of poor people will face homelessness because of the skyrocketing price increase of lands and housings, whereas salary remains low, thereby (a larger number of people) will not have enough money to buy houses. Because of its concerns, the HRP issued a statement at the end of last week, calling the government to provide government housing at low rent, or to sell affordable housing where civil servants and poor workers can pay off their debt to buy these houses according to their salary. The Mekong Times indicated that this call was made at a time when the HRP views that the price of land in Phnom Penh currently increases from $1,000 to about $2,000 per square-meter. Row houses now cost between $40,000 and $90,000. The HRP concerns were considered as untrue by Khieu Kanharith, government spokesman. Khieu Kanharith said that this statement was raised because (the HRP) does not know the actual situation in Cambodia. He said that (the HRP) is far worse than the people.

Villagers, Soldiers Clash Over Land [-The KR soldiers are back ... wearing Hun Sen's army uniform]

By Kong Soth, VOA Khmer
Battambang
16 April 2008

[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the first in a two-part series examining concerns of rural voters.]

In Battambang province’s Kos Krol district, 415 families are waiting for a solution to a land conflict they say stems from former Khmer Rouge who are now part of the armed forces.

More than 50 kilometers outside of Battambang town, along a red, dusty road, the families of Dung Ba commune live in homes of thatched roofs behind walls of blue plastic sheets or plywood.

Seng Sothy, a villager who has called this place home for nine years, said in early March, soldiers clashed with villagers, firing shots over their heads and sending them running into the night.

Soldiers here say they were protecting their land from a mob.

Seng Sothy says she has never seen a problem like this.

“They said to us that if we do not leave our houses, they will burn them and killed us all,” she told VOA Khmer. “We had to run into the forest at night.”

The land dispute, between resettling villagers and integrated former Khmer Rouge, is not unlike many across the country, as Cambodia undergoes a land price boom.

It is just one issue that rural Cambodians will face as they head to the polls in general elections in July.

Land that was once worth little except those who farmed it has become a premium, and residents here say the soldiers want to reclaim what they left when they folded into the government.

Vanna Ra, who abandoned the Khmer Rouge and joined the government in 1996, told VOA Khmer that armed villagers were trying to take land away from the soldiers, forcing them to defend themselves.

“The shooting was only to threaten them, because they wanted to hold a protest,” he said. “So we were only defending ourselves.”

Ang Dung, village chief of Kon Touth, where the clashes took place, said his was a new village, where hundreds of families now occupy a former battleground. They have lived here in safety since 1999, farming more than 1,000 hectares of land.

Vann Bo, another villager here, said high prices were driving the soldiers of Military Region Five to demand land they once controlled during the war.

“When our people did not want to leave, they came and shot at us,” she said. “We cannot sleep in the house, and go out and sleep out in the field, in the rain, in front of a police station.”

In Kong Chith, an investigator for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights familiar with the conflict, said soldiers had used undue violence against the villagers.

“Intimidation seriously threatens people’s security,” he said. The soldiers’ “activities were very violent, and they abused the law on human rights.”

Chum Bunrong, spokesman for the National Land Dispute Authority, said he was not aware of the specific conflict in Battambang, but he encouraged those involved to file a complaint with his office.

Catch 22 in Hun Sen's so-called development policy: Farm sell-offs endanger Cambodian rice production

Farm sell-offs endanger Cambodian rice production

PHNOM PENH, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Rice production will be reduced in Cambodia if rice fields continue to be sold to be converted to business, factory or residential sites, the Mekong Times newspaper reported Monday, citing an Agriculture Ministry official.

"We are worried that, in the future, only non-fertile land will remain for cultivation because most of the rice fields will have been sold off," Kit Seng, director of the planning department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Uon Sophal, a farmer in Cambodia's Kampot province, said that if current land transaction trends continue, most farmland will end up in the hands of the rich.

"Then farmers will find it more difficult to afford food," he said. "I would like to appeal to farmers not to sell their land because this will cause a shortage of farmland and it will drive rice prices up, which will be a burden on the country."

Farms in Cambodia are currently run overwhelmingly by impoverished farmers, and because of this poverty they are often tempted to sell their land for ready cash, said Chey Siyat, a member of an agricultural NGO.

According to MAFF figures, 85 percent of Cambodia's population relies on agriculture for a living.

Cambodia produces 6 million tons of unhusked rice annually and there are 2.3 million hectares of rice paddy land.

Media: land is still a risky investment in Cambodia

Demolition of the Long Chhin-built villas (bottom), even though the Chinese company owner seems to be cozy with top state officials (top)

March 20, 2008

Despite the recent property boom, buying land and house can still be a very risky business in Cambodia and there is no easy solution, local media reported Thursday, citing a leading lawmaker and a real estate broker.

"All property buyers should study carefully before deciding to buy houses and land," Sung Bonna, president of Bonna Realty Group, was quoted by the Mekong Times newspaper as saying.

The well-known case of the Long Chhin company attempting to build on protected lakes in Kandal province last year was a good example of risky land development, Sung Bonna said, adding that the land was confiscated from the firm by the government.

"It was the buyer's fault because they did not conduct an in-depth study of that land," he said.

Meanwhile, Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) parliamentarian Son Chhay, who has helped resolve many land disputes, warned that study alone would not help property buyers escape being cheated.

Only the authorities and strict law enforcement can prevent this, he said.

Cambodia has seen a dramatic increase in property prices since mid-2004, which observers say is due to increased investment, political stability and population growth.

Source:Xinhua

Land price increase brings no benefit to the poor

25 February 2008
By Ky Soklim
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

Families relocated to the Sok Sen village, in the suburb of Phnom Penh, 7 years ago, are starting to sell the plots of land given to them by the state. Poverty does not allow them to wait for further land price increase.

Seven years ago, a blaze destroyed the shanty town located behind the Russian embassy in Phnom Penh. Then, the municipality transferred more than 300 families to the Sen Sok village, in Russei Keo district. Each family received a plot of land measuring 105-square-meter (15-meter-by-7-meter). At their arrival, hardship was indescribable: no infrastructure, no water, no electricity. The victims of the blaze lived in makeshift tents.

At the time, land prices were not very high. Each 105-square-meter lot cost $200. At the beginning of 2008, the average price increases to $15,000 each, i.e. $143 per square-meter. However, between 7 years ago and now, 50% of the families already sold their land at cheap price, and more well-to-do people took over their lands.

Built on former rice fields, Sen Sok is currently a modern community with wooden or brick homes. Duos Sereyvuth, the village chief of Sen Sok 4, regrets that the original land owners did not benefit from the development. He explained that the families had to sell their lands because of lack of everything.

When these families lived in Phnom Penh, they could survive by working as motodoup, or through some small family owned businesses. Currently, traveling to downtown is very expensive due to the high price of gasoline. The lack of schools was also one of the reasons for the departure of these families. “After they sold their lands very cheaply, they returned back to Phnom Penh to live in shanty towns, or they rent an apartment,” the village chief claimed.

Sok Thann who is in charge of the community of poor people in Sen Suosdey – a community consisting of huts built on state lands, located next to the Sen Sok commune – confirmed the sales of the lands by the poorest families in the community. His community accepted 40 such poor families. “I sold my land for $2,500 because I indebted myself for the wedding of my son,” 68-year-old Nguon Sem said. He now lives in Sen Suosdey.

Not everybody sold their land, 60-year-old Nguon Tim was able to buy another plot of land. “It’s for my children and grandchildren,” Nguon Tim explained in front of his house. He had to make sacrifices: price steadily increased for several years, before zooming up when electricity lines were installed, a few months earlier. “Buyers come and go every day. Price increases by $1,000 daily for each plot of land,” Tim said. According to the latter, the buyers are mainly people from Phnom Penh.

Land price in Phnom Penh’s commercial area costs more than $3,000 per square-meter, whereas this price was $400 in the 90s. In rural area, the trend of land price also follows this increase. However, poor people did not benefit from this boon. Some blame them for lacking patience, and for not waiting for the good timing before selling. These poor people replied: misery does not leave them with any other choice.

Asia's property prices likely to keep gaining momentum [-More land-grabbing ahead in Cambodia?]

Mon, 24 Dec 2007
DPA

Singapore - Property prices in much of Asia are still undervalued compared with pre-crisis levels but are expected to keep gaining momentum, a report from a research house said Monday. Singapore's strong showing this year underscored a more general recovery in the region since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, said The Global Property Guide.

"Singapore is attracting and admitting more foreign-born workers, which is positive for prices," said the online report.

Residential property prices in the city-state surged 24.3 per cent after adjustments for inflation to emerge as the world's hottest this year, Global Property said, followed by Shanghai, up 20 per cent.

Robust economic growth accounted for the performances, the report said.

In Asia, it recommended Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand to investors.

Global Property cautioned against investing in Europe, with the exception of a handful of Eastern European states, because of high valuations after a long period of price appreciation.

The report found Egypt attractive for its high rental yields and low taxes but warned of a possible oversupply in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The Changing Cambodia

Op-Ed by: Cambodia (Anonymous)
Date: 12/09/2007

Posted at: http://www.myp1t.com/blog/view/id_230/

In today's Cambodia, the number one topic of conversation is not about politics, who is sleeping with whom and getting what in return (that's the one of the top topics, though). It is about how much the speaker's land holdings are worth now and where so and so bought and sold recently and for how much.

For the past two years, land prices have skyrocketed, fueled by frenzied speculation, money-laundering, "investment" by foreigners and overseas Khmers.

Many rice farmers have seized the opportunity to sell their rice fields for what they considered to be a fortune and most have spent this money on bigger houses, motorbikes for themselves and their children. A few have reinvested the proceeds of the sale by purchasing land in more promising locations or used part of the money to start a business.

When the money runs out, after selling the material goods, many rice farmers have no land to grow rice and fall on hard times.

In the meantime, this new "sub-middle class" behaves exactly like the nouveau rich Oknhas and Angkareaks who are the self-appointed "masters of the land" and lord over non-cashed up neighbors and other penniless people around them.

I regret to say that a few of my distant relatives have exhibited this trait and I have witnessed it first-hand all around me, i.e. in markets, restaurants, even at the Cambodian Cultural Village in Siem Reap.

In November 2007, to encourage foreign investors to come to Cambodia, Hun Sen boasted about the fact that, in many areas of Cambodia, land prices were as high as in Hong Kong and some areas cost as much as New York. He implied that Cambodia was economically developed since land prices were comparable to Hong Kong's or New York's. I would have thought that high land prices were a disincentive, not an incentive, for investors.

Earlier this year, the so subtle communicator Hun Sen said in public that , if he was no longer Prime Minister, there was no guarantee that land prices would keep on rising and that, if anything, they were likely to fall.

My relatives who have most recently joined the ranks of the moneyed class did not take long to express the same thought that Hun Sen was the key to Cambodia's stability and have been uncharacteristically silent about the shortcomings of the Cambodian government.

Their obsession with land prices, money, wealth has turned them into social bores among other relatives and friends but so far, no one has had the courage (or rudeness, according to Cambodians) to tell them diplomatically that they have changed and not for the better.

Friends have told me that they have noticed the same change.

Do you have friends and relatives who have also changed along the same lines?

Does money change people, irrespective of race, religion, educational level?

With all these corrupt politicians and slutty entertainers as their idols and role models, have many Khmers embraced a culture of greed, money worship that pretends to follow the rites of Buddhism but violates some of the most basic precepts of Buddhism?

Cambodia enjoying influx of foreign investments

Cambodian workers in a garment factory

15 October 2007
By Channel NewsAsia's IndoChina Correspondent Anasuya Sanyal

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries, is enjoying an influx of foreign investments, and land prices in the capital Phnom Penh have been shooting up.

Demand is strongest for affordable housing suitable for growing families and projects with foreign partners are particularly attractive to Cambodians.

Scores of South Korean construction companies are getting in on the action.

Camko City, a US$2 billion residential community, is the single largest investment in the country's history.

The project, led by a conglomerate of South Korean companies, has gone ahead with the government's full support.

Thach Sotharath, a commercial real estate agent, said: "The landowners, they want to build something – a big, big project – so they have only the land, they don't have the capital to build, so they have to find an investor to come to join venture or to buy their land."

With the high level of interest shown by investors, land prices in the city have skyrocketed from US$5 per square metre in 2004 to US$100 this year – a twenty-fold increase.

"Many investors have come in and Cambodian people are happy that they have so many jobs," said Sotharath.

Many foreign investors were once concerned about putting money in a country with a troubled past.

But they were won over by the Hun Sen government's business-friendly policies, which include a one-stop service to facilitate paperwork.

James Chang, a South Korean investor, said: "Many foreign investors used to be very worried about the political situation in Cambodia. But nowadays everything has been very stabilised."

With foreign investments pouring into the once war-torn economy, Cambodia's GDP growth is expected to hit more than 9 percent this year.

Cambodia's business boom can be attributed to Asian investors like South Korea and China.

Total direct foreign investment in the country has quadrupled over the past three years and it looks likely to reach half a billion US dollars in 2007.

While Cambodia is now seen as a profitable destination for investors, there are still concerns over business risks.

As the country opens its doors wider, it has to improve transparency, amid allegations of government corruption.