Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district has become the most attractive location for gated community projects – better known as borey – compared to the capital’s other districts, a report by real estate firm, CBRE Cambodia said.
Its research showed that 178 borey projects have been completed in the capital. Of those, 45 projects are located in Sen Sok district, followed by Russey Keo district with 31 projects.
The report shows that there are 24 projects in Mean Chey district, 23 in Chbar Ampov district, 18 in Dangkor district and 17 in Por Sen Chey district. The remaining districts contain less than 10 borey projects each.
This is CBRE Cambodia’s first study on the capital’s borey project numbers, so the company does not have data to compare it to, says the report.
CBRE Cambodia senior analyst Kinkesa Kim on Wednesday said borey projects have emerged a lot in Sen Sok district over the last four to five years.
Their increase may have come from a number of factors such as having a large amount of unoccupied land, affordable prices, good road infrastructure, close proximity with central Phnom Penh, and especially many internationally-owned shopping centres.
She said most flats and hybrid villas are worth around $100,000 per unit in Sen Sok district.
Kinkesa said: “Sen Sok is a good location to live in because there is a concentration of varied services, so there is a lot of borey construction. People living there largely relocated from the city centre.”
However, more projects are moving to other districts – such as Chroy Changvar and Por Sen Chey – due to the current rise in land prices.
The report found that over the next three years, 26 more borey projects are set to be completed in the capital’s other districts.
Of these, nine will be constructed in Chroy Changvar, six in Por Sen Chey district, five in Meanchey district, three in Chbar Ampov district, two in Russey Keo district and one in Dangkor district.
Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction data shows that capital investment in the construction sector over the first two months of this year was about $1.384 billion – more than double the same period last year.
Capital investment amounted to $5.228 billion for the full year last year – an 18.66 per cent decrease from 2017 when it was worth more than $6.428 billion.
Cambodian Valuers and Estate Agents Association (CVEA) president Chrek Soknim said residential development in Sen Sok district will no longer see such rapid growth as land prices rise.
“Low-price housing projects in Sen Sok district will find it more difficult to succeed. But high-end ones will have no problem,” he said.
