Brian Badzmierowski

PropertyGuru officially kicked off its annual Cambodia Property Awards inviting developers and the public to nominate properties across the Kingdom for a wide variety of award categories.

The awards are part of the larger regional PropertyGury Asia Property awards, which were established in 2005 to highlight innovation in real estate across Asia and the Pacific. The judging process is supervised by the HLB real estate group to ensure a fair process.

Along with the best developer, development, design, and special recognition categories of awards, the Best Coastal Residential Development category was added this year to showcase properties in Sihanoukville and Kampot.

PropertyGuru also held a gala dinner at Sofitel last night to hand out awards to last year’s winners, which marks the first in-person event for the PropertyGuru awards since the pandemic began.

Chairperson of the independent judging panel and Executive Vice President of the Cambodian Valuers and Estate Agents Association Sorn Seap said he was proud that Cambodia could be the first country to hold an in-person event and said it was a result of the country’s impressive handling of the pandemic and adherence to safety protocols.

PropertyGuru’s Head of Brand and Marketing Services, Richard Aquino, said the effects of the pandemic have changed the real estate sector in the past year, with developers switching their focus to domestic consumers in the absence of a strong foreign market.

“Locals are making up a much bigger portion of buyers at the moment,” Kim Kinksea, senior research manager for CBRE Cambodia, said in the PropertyGuru Property Report magazine.

“What we are seeing is some of the condos that were originally for Chinese are now being redesigned or changing the condition of the handover to attract more local buyers.”

This could also be the beginning of a trend of more Cambodians starting to prefer condominiums over traditional homes, a trend that Seap said occurred in Thailand over the years and would likely follow suit in Cambodia.

Cambodia’s real-estate sector remains resilient

The panel gathered at the kickoff event agreed that the Cambodian real estate market has remained resilient, partly due to the high vaccination rates in the country and the liberal border policies instituted by the government.

Paul Ashburn, Co-Managing Partner at HLB Thailand, said it has been a difficult couple of years since the pandemic started and during this period, we have witnessed the resilience of Cambodia’s real estate market and its enduring appeal for foreign investment.”

He said the high vaccination rates and liberal border policies have helped the sector, and Cambodia’s ASEAN chairmanship would help boost the sector as well.

“HLB looks forward to participating in this year’s Cambodia property awards to recognize the best projects, designs and innovations the country has to offer.”

Seap said the real estate market continues to grow with Sihanoukville, Kampot, Kep, Bavet, Mondulkiri, and Siem Reap as particular hotbeds of activity and expects southern Phnom Penh to expand massively over the next five to 10 years.

Aquino said the prestigious annual awards represent a chance to attract investment for properties in Cambodia. Winners of the Cambodia awards will be eligible to travel to Bangkok, Thailand on December 9 for the regional competition.

The regional competition offers a chance for Cambodian developers to showcase their properties to global investors and a wider market, with key industry players on hand to scout new projects.

Nominations are open

Nominations have been open since January 1 and developers and the public are welcome to submit free entries on the Asia Property website.

In 2019, Urban Village by Urban Hub (Cambodia) Co., Ltd, won the Best Condo Development in Asia award, marking the first regional win for Cambodia in the award’s 14-year history.

Other notable Cambodian award recipients include the Peng Huoth Group, the first developer in the award’s history to win four consecutive Best Developer awards at the national level.

Last year, Catherina Chan, the founder and executive director of Urban Village and Factory Phnom Penh, became the first female to with the Cambodia Real Estate Personality of the Year title

Entries for the 2022 PropertyGuru Cambodia Property Awards will be allowed until July 8, with site inspections taking place between July 25 and August 4.

Final judging will commence on August 5, with the awards ceremony for the Cambodia awards being held on August 26. The final regional competition will take place at the Athenee Hotel in Bangkok on December 9.