Property has seen a boost in Sihanoukville city in the first quarter of this year, underpinned by increased tourist numbers year-on-year.

Cheng Kheng, director of CPL Real Estate Company and president of the Cambodian Valuers and Estate Agents Association, said the outlook on property in Sihanoukville was positive in the first three months of 2014 compared with the same period last year. He added that the improved outlook could be put down to integration with the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which is slated for next year, and the increased number of tourists and investors coming to Sihanoukville every year.

Land prices in Sihanoukville’s commercial hub ranged from $1,000 to $1,500 per square metre, while prices for land in less developed coastal areas such as Ream Beach ranged from $100 to $150.

Land prices at Otres Beach ranged from between $500 and $600, while prices at popular Ochheuteal Beach were in the vicinity of $1,000 per square metre, he said.

Kheng said it was still too early to put percentage increases on land prices compared to 2013, but he added that his team was currently assaying land prices in Sihanoukville with a view to compiling data for the convenience of possible investors.

According to Kheng, Sihanoukville needs a bigger airport, allowing businesspeople and tourists to arrive direct from overseas, especially ahead of the AEC’s complete integration.

“If Sihanoukville has an airport with direct access from overseas, it will double land prices,” he said.

Po Eavkong, managing director of Asia Real Estate Cambodia, agreed that property prices in Sihanoukville improved healthily in the first quarter of this year, ascribing increased city property values largely to tourism, with guesthouses and the hotel sector in general doing well. Demand in the tourism sector, he pointed out, tended to have a positive knock-on effect on property prices in general.

Meanwhile, according to Eavkong even though residential prices in Sihanoukville city have remained flat, property on the coast had increased markedly.

“Land prices in the city centre have seen an increase of around 5 per cent, but prices for property on the coast have risen by between 7 and 8 per cent compared to the same period last year,” he said.

General manager at KEY Real Estate, Sorn Seap, was slightly less upbeat, pointing out that property transactions in Sihanoukville had been low volume so far this year, with a small number of investors, .

Land prices in commercial areas along Independence Road and near Psar Ler Market ranged from $1,000 to $1,500 per square metre, he said, adding that residential prices were starting from as low as $150 to $350 per square metre, and that property with hard titles at Ochheuteal Beach was priced at about $300 to $500.

“Land prices in the city will go up, though, due to Cambodia’s AEC integration, shipping at the port and increasing numbers of tourists who come for beach holidays,” Seap said.