Home building sector booming
HOME building is booming in the Kingdom, with the affordable housing sector showing great momentum in suburban areas, as recent data indicates.
The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction said during the first six months of the year, provincial and municipal authorities provided 1,643 construction permits for 5.35 million sqm of housing valued at some $2.15 billion.
“The increase is due to Cambodia’s political stability, strong economic growth, the number of new families and the increased inflow of investments from abroad,” said Lao Tip Seiha, the ministry’s under-secretary of state.
Experts also say that an uptick in average income and the increasing number of new households has shielded the Kingdom’s housing and real estate markets from the instability that struck some neighbouring countries.
While this may be good news for the emerging middle class, it is not without headaches. Some urban areas, according to real estate experts, are approaching over-development.
Housing Development Association of Cambodia president Ly Hour spoke to The Post on Wednesday at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Borey Vimean Phnom Penh affordable housing project along National Road 6, northeast of the capital.
Hour said the Kingdom’s real estate and housing markets are now growing too fast in the capital, and creating the need for suburban developments like Borey Vimean, of which he is the president. Ly said his company plans to continue building homes in the area.
‘Exceed expectations’
Chhay Sina, the sales and marketing manager of Borey Vimean, said the 30ha project will take three to five years to build. It will eventually have about 3,000 homes, ranging in price from $47,000 to more than $200,000.
“I think this new project will attract more customers and sales will exceed expectations. We have previous experience of selling others projects along the road,” she said.
Chhay said the new development is the ninth Borey Vimean project near Phnom Penh. It will include shophouses, apartments, villas, of- fice buildings, entertainment options and gymnasiums.
Lucky Realty CEO Dith Channa said in the last few years, the real estate and construction sectors have evolved significantly along National Road 6, especially from Chroy Changva Bridge to the Prek Tamak Bridge.
“There are currently a lot of housing projects emerging along this road,” he said.
The price of land along National Road 6 is between $300 and $350 per square metre, an increase from between $250 and $300 last year, said Channa.
Rising prices are a concern, even as the housing market expands. Cambodian Association of Real Estate Agents president Kim Heang previously said that home prices in Cambodia fall into three categories – less than $40,000, between $48,800 and $80,000, and over $80,000.
The ministry said in 2015 that about 800,000 new homes have to be built across the Kingdom by 2030. That’s good news for developers like Hour.
“I am optimistic that the housing market in Cambodia will continue to grow for a long time, especially for those in the middle-class bracket,” he said.