While Cambodia’s property market has largely focused on developing high-end luxury residential units to cater to wealthy local and foreign investors, Singapore-based HLH Group aims to tap into the emerging middle class market through Camhomes, the brand name of the property arm of Public Housing Development (Cambodia).

HLH Group, which owns and runs around 10,000 hectares of cassava and sugarcane plantations and has primarily made its mark in the Kingdom through agriculture, officially unveiled Camhomes this past Saturday at Canadia Tower.

Speaking at the event, Dr John Chen, a director on the board of HLH group, said that while Cambodia’s housing sector remains strong with increasing demand, “prices are also high, and ordinary Cambodians can find themselves hard to keep up.”

“At Camhomes, we believe everyone deserves the chance to own their own home, and we want to give more Cambodian people the opportunity to take their first steps up the property ladder,” he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng presided over the launch of the new showroom and hailed Camhomes as a step in the right direction to home ownership.

“[In the] Cambodia context, supply of contemporary housing to accommodate growing middle income populations is still one of the major developmental challenges facing the Royal Government of Cambodia to help them own an appropriate home,” he said.

He added that Camhomes is in line with the National Public Housing policy currently in the process of development by the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction—a plan which he expects to see the results of in the next few years.

He noted that while the construction and property sector has substantially relied on the private sector for investment projects, the government has been actively promoting an investment climate conducive to the growth of the market.

Camhomes first housing development, D’Seaview, will be built near the coastal shore of Sihanoukville, minutes away from Sokha Beach. It was announced last February on the Singapore Stock Exchange that HLH acquired the 9,818 square metre plot for $1.7 million. Shortly after, in April, HLH incorporated the wholly-owned Cambodian subsidiary Public Housing Development.

“Like all cities in Cambodia, Sihanoukville is enjoying rapid growth and development in both tourism and in other sectors like the port and the Special Economic Zone. Sihanoukville is one of the region’s premier resort towns, and we see that continuing to the future which is why we’re so excited about D’Seaview,” said Dr Dato Johnny Ong, CEO of HLH Group.

With apartments starting at $675 per square metre, Ong said that investment can start at $33,000. The project offers one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units, as well as two-floored duplex suites.

Ong said that during the first day of the launch, approximately 30 per cent of the units were sold.

“We are still processing around 800 registrants in the queue for their applications. We believe the numbers will increase after we are done with the process,” he added.

By focusing on Cambodian buyers, Ong said that units can be subsidized up to 50 per cent and that payments start at $189 a month.

D’Seaview is the first of many developments Camhomes will undertake in the coming years, including projects in Phnom Penh.

“At Camhomes, our vision is of a country where owning a home is a realistic option for all Cambodians and where everyone has a stake in the Kingdom’s continued development,” said Chen.