AROUND 70 percent of units in Phnom Penh’s Borey Peng Hout housing development have been sold, company marketing manager Uk Phavy said Tuesday, as government officials said there are signs the domestic property market has continued to attract investors despite last year’s slump in the midst of the global financial crisis.

The new 260-home development in Stung Meanchey commune is currently under construction and due for completion by the end of this year, according to the Borey Peng Hout official.

“Some homes will be ready in July, and the whole project will be complete at the end of the year,” she said, declining to reveal the cost of the major development.

Uk Phavy said homes are selling well despite the fallout from the economic crisis, but that sales were slower for the developers than in 2008.

“Our clients are government officials and Cambodian businesspeople,” she said.

She added that flats at the complex are selling at US$75,800 per unit, with new villas priced between $120,000 and $480,000.

A government official acknowledged Wednesday that the construction sector has been impacted by the global downturn but stated that some foreign and domestic investors are continuing projects.

Lao Tip Seiha, director of the construction department of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, said: “We [at the ministry] are proud of projects that try to continue and can snap up clients even though the world financial crisis has hit Cambodia’s real estate market hard.”

He added that there are signs of recovery in the construction sector despite the crisis.

Earlier this month, businesspeople told the Post that demand for construction and decorating materials had risen in 2010 as signs of increased building activity spread through the sector. Firms selling decorating products noted that paint demand had increased between 25 and 30 percent since January, with daily paint sales reaching 3,000 to 4,000 litres a day.