Cambodia Investment Review

US-based ERA Cambodia – a leading real estate company focused on selling, buying, and leasing in the local condominium market – has announced an ambitious plan to expand its sales personnel from the existing 1,500 to over 5,000 agents over the next five years.

The expansion will aim to increase and enhance transaction efficiency, and prepare for the growing demand in the coming years, according to Mr. Khorn Kungkea, Chairman and CEO of ERA Cambodia. 

Kungkea announced the plan as the company celebrated its Career Advancement Day, which is one of the company’s flagship events at ERA Cambodia. The event is held annually to acknowledge the achievement of its agents, together with encouraging them to continue providing high-quality services in the competitive market.

He said the company will always seek to create an exciting working environment for the staff, through various training programs and events, like Career Advancement Day, as well as praise the acknowledgment for the accomplishment of agents by promoting and awarding. 

“Despite the pandemic, our agents still managed to provide an excellent service to our customers. This is partly thanks to more people now recognizing the importance of professional real estate services that is accepted both domestically and internationally. As well as the trustworthy service to the developers and customers alike,” Mr. Kungkea said.

ERA Cambodia agents rewarded

A total of 71 agents were awarded recognition for their effort and success achieved during the first half of 2022. The awards were categorized into top achiever commissions, transactions, agents who reached one million sales in value, as well as top managers and recruiters.

Four prominent condo developers took part in ERA Cambodia’s Career Advancement Day with Morgan EnMaison as the platinum sponsor. La Vista, R&F, and Time Square supported the event as Silver and Bronze sponsors.

Z1 Financial, the first company in Southeast Asia to develop a digital investment platform using blockchain technology to bring the tokenization concept to real estate investment for the Cambodian market also endorsed the event as a Gold sponsor.

ERA Real Estate is a world-class real estate company founded in the United States in 1972. Currently, ERA has gained its foothold, supporting approximately 40,000 salespeople in more than 2,200 offices across 37 countries worldwide. 

ERA Cambodia launched in 2018, with Mr. Khorn Kungkea as Chief Executive Officer. The company has so far expanded its offices to three locations – Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, and Siem Reap with more than 1,500 professionally trained agents across the nation.  

Currently, there are more than 30 high-quality condo projects valued at more than $1 billion that are partnered with ERA Cambodia.

Demand for condos in Cambodia set to rise

As reported by real estate firms, Cambodia’s condominium supply is expected to increase to nearly 80,000 units by 2025, from an existing supply as of 2021 of 30,000 representing a 160% growth.

According to the National Bank of Cambodia’s Financial Stability Review 2021 publication, imported construction materials have increased by 27% last year after a contraction of 12% in 2020.

This increase is mainly due to the resumption of construction projects as investors gradually gain confidence, along with the reduced spread of Covid-19. 

Real estate insiders also expect to see a strong inflow of foreign direct investment within the next six months driving a higher demand in condo transactions, especially among Chinese buyers.  

According to Mr. Kungkea, the Cambodia condo market, which has been dominated by foreign buyers in the past, has seen a remarkable increase in local buyers amid Cambodia’s growing middle-class in recent years. A trend that is expected to rise further in the coming years. 

to read more about Cambodia’s real estate market trends click here.

“Over this past four years, the majority of condo buyers via our company are Cambodians aged between 25 and 35 years old, living in Phnom Penh, as well as Cambodians living abroad, who bought condos as an investment,” he said. 

Mr. Kungkea believes that the condominium market will be in significantly higher demand in the future, with Phnom Penh the center for condominium supply.