A TAIWANESE housing development company has sold 50 percent of its Phnom Penh project since the National Assembly approved the foreign ownership law last month, an official at Two Town Co said Tuesday.

Two Town Co sales manager Un Mouy said foreigners have been the sole buyers for the company’s project, Bali Resort & Apartment, in the capital’s Dangkor district.

“Once the law was passed, it paved the way to attract foreigners to buy our apartments. It is the right time and a good time to invest in housing development – that’s why we started to build,” she said.

Un Mouy said she believes the strong sales to date are a positive sign for the co-ownership law’s impact. The law allows foreigners to own property, so long as it is not on the ground floor of a building.

“All of my clients are from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia,” she said, and added that most were Taiwanese directors and garment factory owners working in Cambodia.

Bali Resort & Apartment is being developed in three phases – three apartment blocks – with the first phase slated for completion by April 2011.

Each block is eight storeys high and has 84 units. Prices per unit range from US$45,000 to $100,000.

Un Mouy declined to disclose the budget for the development, but said the company has invested a lot of capital already.

She said the second phase will begin after the first phase is complete.

The site for the project covers more than 1 hectare in Ka Kab commune, Dangkor district, about a kilometre from Phnom Penh International Airport.

Lao Tip Seiha, director of the Construction Department at the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, said the law was very important in attracting foreign investors and developers to Cambodia by making them more confident to invest in the construction and property sector.

“I hope the law helps improve the construction and property sector,” he said. “But I do think that the construction sector is still showing good signs despite being affected by the global economic crisis.”

President and CEO of Bonna Realty Group, Sung Bonna, added: “The law on foreigners owning buildings will attract more investors to the Kingdom. I hope it will make demand and supply on the real estate market more active.”