Property prices in Cambodia fall more than one-third, say realtors

CAMBODIA'S real estate market lost more than a third of its value in the first three months of 2009 compared with the same period last year, due to the impact of the global financial crisis, say real estate developers.

"According to our research, the real estate market dropped 40 percent in the first three months in 2009 if we compare the situation to the first three months in 2008," said Sung Bonna, CEO of Bonna Realty Group and president of the National Valuers' Association of Cambodia.

He said that land in Boeung Keng Kang I commune, worth between US$2,500 and $2,800 per square metre during the first quarter of 2008, had fallen to between $1,600 and $2,000 in the same period this year.