Real estate developments covered in green tarp have sprung up across the capital’s Boeung Kang Kong commune, and housing units are filling before the projects are finished, insiders said.

The value of construction approvals in Phnom Penh jumped by 557.5 per cent in March to US$150.5 million compared to a year earlier, according to a report from the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI).

The value of approved apartment, or flat, construction was worth $26.7 million, an increase of 855 per cent year on year.

Sun City Apartments, a 35-unit development in Boeung Kang Kong, has rented all but one flat even before the project has been completed, Sun City owner Channda Sok said yesterday. The units were put on the rental market about three months ago.

One-bedroom Sun City flats rent at $1,500 per month, two-bedroom flats at $2,500.

High rental yields compared to the low cost of land in Phnom Penh has boosted the construction market for flats, Sunny Soo, Knight Frank country manager, said yesterday.

Renters have not shied away from increasingly steep prices.

“There are still people willing to pay these prices in this market,” he said, adding that there are about 10 similar rental projects in Boeung Kang Kong alone. Soo could not confirm the CDRI figures for March.

The CDRI data showed that public, commercial, industrial and tourism-related construction was worth $122.1 million in March, a year-on-year increase of 604.3 per cent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Don Weinland at [email protected]