Monthly Archives: October 2011
CBRE Cambodia at the 2011 IBC Conference – Cambodian Real Estate Session
The International Business Chamber (IBC) conference took place last week (11th -12th October) creating a buzz around Phnom Penh and attracting a whole host of international and national companies. The mood was very upbeat with a palpable air of optimism expressed between national and international guests and speakers alike.
IBC ‘break-out’ sessions covered a wide range of subjects including; Oil and Gas Exploration and Production; Law, Tax and Governance; Tourism; Agribusiness and; Real Estate & Economic Land Concessions. Among the esteemed speakers on Cambodian Real Estate was CBRE Cambodia’s very own Country Manager, Mr Daniel Parkes. The expert panel discussed far reaching issues from the current state of foreign national land ownership in Cambodia, The 2020 Phnom Penh masterplan, land titles, title registration and property investment in Cambodia. The joint knowledge and experience of the panel members provided for highly informative and knowledge discussions on many facets of Cambodia Real Estate.
Daniel Parkes (Country Manager, CBRE Cambodia) who was speaking as a member of the expert panel on Real Estate drew attention to recent property investments, the Phnom Penh Masterplan, the addition of Grade A office space, market conditions, a lack of international standard retail centres and the sense of optimism which continues throughout the Kingdom even in tough economic times. Daniel Parkes cited healthy GDP and FDI figures, although he noted that GDP has fallen below the double-digit high of 2007.
‘There is a growing middle class in Cambodia’s urban centres, expats continue to arrive and stay longer, and international businesses continue to set up and stay here. It is time to apply the hard-won lessons that CBRE Cambodia and the Cambodian Real Estate industry learnt from the tough times that ensued during the real estate slump of 2008 and 2009.’.
CBRE Cambodia looks forward to working with the IBC again and offering our real estate expertise to the business already operating in Cambodia and the many new businesses hoping to establish operations in the Kingdom of Cambodia in the future.
Speculation over a circa $100,000,000 property investment
A recent publication in the Phnom Penh Post (14th October 2011) has drawn attention to what Tom Brennan (of the Phnom Penh Post) describes as ‘the biggest property deal in half a decade’ within Cambodia and that the deal will almost certainly exceed Hong Kong Land’s recent property investment in which a number of land and property assets in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh were purchased from the ailing JSM Indochina.
Brennan quoting ‘multiple outside sources’ writes that ‘this new deal is supposed to be worth nearly US$100 million’ and that land exists in southeast Phnom Penh and the ‘Development of the land will result in a landmark shopping centre for the capital city’.
When asking, ‘Will the bet pay off?’ Brennan cites the words of Daniel Parkes (Country Manager, CBRE Cambodia) who was speaking on a separate matter as a member of an expert panel at the IBC Conference. Daniel Parkes commented that, Cambodia presently has no international-standard retail space and that the country continues to show healthy GDP figures although they have fallen below the double-digit level of 2007.
CBRE Cambodia research many facets of the Cambodian Property Market including retail, retail centres and property investment and are market leaders in the Cambodian Real Estate industry.