Property companies experienced a year-on-year increase in transactions through the first two months of 2012, offering an optimistic outlook for the rest of the year.

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A number of major real estate firms told Post Property that both property sales and rentals rose, compared to the same period last year.

“A number of new housing developments entered the market last year, which has led to large growth in customers,” Chrek Soknim, deputy director of VTrust Property Co said.

In the first two months of the year, VTrust has dealt with a total of 130 customers, a 62 per cent increase from the 80 customers in January and February last year, he said.

“We only had 10 customers buying properties last year, but in the first two months of 2012 this doubled. In addition, the number of customers leasing units soared 60 per cent,” Chrek Soknim said.

He added that his company has also assisted 30 customers in leasing office space, of which more than half were foreign nationals.

Other property agents have also seen transactions pick up this year.

Dith Channa, general manager of VMC Real Estate Company said overall transactions rose 29 per cent year-on-year.

“We saw little activity in the market in early 2011, however, things sped up through the year, especially in the growing office market,” he said.

The firms office space rentals increased 44 per cent, while house purchases and leases rose 18 and 32 per cent respectively, Dith Channa added.

Chheng Kimlong, business and economics lecturer at the University of Cambodia said that he expects this trend to continue throughout 2012 and the coming years.

“While the economy continues to grow, increased demand for housing will follow, particularly in the residential market,” he said, adding that he expects the office space market to continue to soar in the next decade.