Ever-increasing competition in Cambodia’s borey market is leading to less than ripe conditions for sales activity, with some boreys reporting marked drops in borey sales.

Sour Soufang, general manager of Borey Rith, located along Street 598 in the Russey Keo district, told Post Property earlier this week that the sales rate for individual houses within the borey had dropped between 25 to 30 percent when compared to the previous corresponding year.

Soufang attributed the decline to the overwhelming competition from other boreys within the vicinity, as well as people sitting in the wait-and-see mode as a result of the looming elections over the next two years.

She continued, “The citizens told me directly that they are worried about the elections, they’re worried that something would happen that would stall the construction.”

“Therefore, they’re waiting around to see what the overall situation will be like after the election.”

While at one end of the spectrum borey sales are decreasing for some complexes, house values concurrently appear to be on the rise, with the housing market situation prompting Soufang to press pause on any new construction projects this year.

“However, we will be continuing on with our plans if the market situation gets better,” she said.

Meanwhile, Nget Piseth, assistant CEO of Borey New World, said the state of borey sales this year was painstakingly slow, adding the market situation now remained far worse than it was a couple of years ago.

According to Piseth, the company has decided to halt any borey expansion plans, but will consider building new properties on land within the existing borey.

He continued, “Today’s housing market is focused on medium-priced houses, ranging from $40,000-$60,000 only.”

Piseth said the price of houses in his borey have yet to increase unlike some of the company’s competitors, but said the real struggle was the ridiculous surge of land value in Phnom Penh which was making it difficult for developers to find suitable land for investment purposes.

Ly Hour, head of the Housing Development Association of Cambodia (HDAC), denied that the borey market was struggling, describing the market conditions as “good”. Hour said what was currently important was for the developers to narrow in on its target customers and to ensure developers had adequate capital on hand to support the entire construction process.

“In my opinion, the demand will continue to increase, especially houses with an inexpensive price tag,” he said.