Local developer Monarchy Land & Investment on June 10 simultaneously broke ground and launched sales for its first housing development in southern Kandal province.
Speaking at the ceremony commemorating the occasion, Sok Borey, sales manager of the Borey Khemarak Phumi gated-community development, said the project includes 100 housing units divided into three categories – link houses, shophouses and single villas.
Construction is scheduled to be completed by June next year, she said, without disclosing the value of the development.
The prices for link houses, shophouses and single villas start from $48,800, $98,800 and $130,800, respectively, she said. “The prices of all three types of housing in Borey Khemarak Phumi are more affordable compared to other developments, and we design and care about quality.”
She added that the 3ha site is just 700m from National Road 2 in the province’s Kandal Stung district.
Khuon Leakena, Monarchy Land & Investment deputy director-general and project representative, described the units as modern, snazzy and designed in a unique style, providing a pleasant living environment.
“Our Borey Khemarak Phumi is in a geographically favourable area, strategically located near the Third Ring Road and near the new Phnom Penh airport, not far from Aeon Mall 3, where the commercial area is booming like a mushroom,” she said.
According to Leakena, the company is also looking to develop a second project, a “natural housing project” near the riverside on about 30ha in the province’s Takhmao town, east of Kandal Stung. “We’ll turn the area into a residential project, a park, a green environment, and we hope to garner a lot of support.”
But her upbeat sentiment is not shared by players in the Cambodian construction and real estate sectors.
The global health crisis caused by the Covid-19 outbreak has dragged down investment in the sectors, which had shown positive signs for several years in a row.
CBRE Cambodia managing director Ann Sothida speculates that investment in construction will fare even worse this year than in 2020, on lacklustre progress in the Covid fight and fewer government infrastructure construction plans set in motion that in pre-pandemic days.
Even the real estate sector is on a less-than-satisfactory recovery course, she said.
“The value of investment in 2021 will continue to fall because there are not as many large investment projects, or new infrastructure construction projects driven by the government as there were before, and the number of construction sites, condominiums and borey are also on the decline,” Sothida said.
Last year, the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction approved just $7.8 billion in new construction projects – down by 32.1 per cent from $11.4 billion in 2019, covering 17 million square metres, down by 26.9 per cent, the National Bank of Cambodia’s said in its latest Financial Stability Review 2020 (FSR 2020) released on May 31.
The residential, commercial and industrial segments made up the largest share of new projects, accounting for 46.1 per cent, 31.8 per cent and 14.6 per cent, respectively, the central bank said, adding that foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to construction and real estate fell by 10.6 per cent, accounting for 17 per cent of FDI stock.
