Real Estate Prices Continue to Fall
Once-booming land prices have fallen by as much as a fifth since June, following a prolonged border standoff with Thailand and the sudd
Property prices in Cambodia's once-booming real estatemarket haven fallen by as much as 20 percent since June, a real estate expertsaid Monday. The global financial crisis, the Thai-Cambodia borderstandoff and loan restrictions set out by commercial banks were allcontributing to a fall in prices, said Sung Bonna, president of the NationalValuers Association of Cambodia. "The drop may continue for a long or short time," he said inopening remarks at a real estate investment training course in Phnom Penh. "It is up to the reform of theCambodian situation. Some crises will be solved." Between June and October, values in property fell between 10percent and 20 percent, he said. "When the decline is going on and on, we are very concernedabout the real estate price in Cambodia,"he said. "But we hope it will recover soon." Cambodiain recent years has experienced a boom in property prices, leading many ruraland urban residents to sell off their land at very high prices, raising rentsand values, and boosting the construction sector. But the property bubble was now of concern, especiallyconsidering the bust of the UShousing market, which has led to a global financial crisis, said FinanceMinister Keat Chhon. "The real estate market in Cambodia is also indirectlyaffected by this world crisis," he said. "Starting from this bad experiencefacing the world, Cambodiais paying her critical caution in the process of the developing real estatesector in Cambodia." The falling property prices are expected to stunt Cambodia'seconomic growth, he said, acknowledging that both the economic crisis and theborder standoff, which has continued since mid-July, were factors in the drop. Neither were in the hands of Cambodia to fix, he said. "Cambodiais a political hostage to Thailand'sinternal conflict," he said, referring to a mass movement of oppositionsupporters who are calling for a change of government in Bangkok.