Apartments in BKK and Toul Tum Pong Perform Well Despite Covid-19
For more than two years of the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic, Cambodia’s real estate sector has been hit hard, especially when travelling restriction was imposed and there were less foreign customers.
Real estate markets such as apartments which rely heavily on foreign customers experienced slow growth, but while some apartment projects have been struggling to find tenants, other key apartment projects with good location and quality management are seen to perform well despite the pandemic.
According to CBRE Cambodia Q4 2021 report, despite the negative effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on Cambodia’s real estate sector, some apartment projects, especially those located within the inner-city districts such as Boeung Keng Kang and Toul Tum Pong have maintained high performance.
The success of the key apartment projects is driven by the nature of their major tenant pool, namely senior expat occupiers seeking security in well located projects during the pandemic, says the report.
The serviced apartment space remained stable throughout the last half year. Within the last quarter of 2021, the market welcomed 3 new projects opening their doors namely Sophea Apartment, Baramii and Amata. The fourth quarter observed only one new launch, a slow down in supply presenting an opportunity for further stabilization of rental rates.
However, due to declining number of tourists in Cambodia, the entire apartment market saw negative growth. Grade A and Grade B serviced apartments have continued to drop their rents by between -2.5% and -4.8% respectively HoH. On average, Grade A was quoted at circa $21 dollars per sqm per month while the Grade B monthly asking rate was slightly above $14 dollars per sqm.
The report notes that in order to attract tenants and stay competitive in the market, operators have offered discount and put effort into design, amenities and facilities of the property with the improvement of property management and customer services.