Cambodian investment properties were showcased to over 6,000 investors from across Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region earlier this month during the Moscow International Property Show, a real estate exhibition targeting affluent Russian and CIS national investors seeking overseas property investments.
The exhibition, held in Moscow city on April 12-13, is one of Russia’s largest annual real estate shows.
This year’s event welcomed hundreds of exhibitors from worldwide destinations including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, Georgia and, for the first time in 2024, Cambodia.
Peter Guboglo, CEO of Phnom Penh-based real estate agency, Investor In Property Co., Ltd., joined the expo to present Cambodian-based strata titled condominiums to potential investors in attendance.
He noted that Russian-speaking investors, from both Russia and the 12 CIS nations, represent a collective group of investors which is one of the largest in the world, and with an increasingly strong collective purchasing power.
However, due to language barriers and a lack of information on countries such as Cambodia throughout the CIS region, Cambodian properties have generally not yet been widely advertised to those investors and the benefits of Cambodian investment are largely unknown.
While Russian-speaking property investors have previously invested in countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia, for the most part, they are not aware of the present-day modernity and livability of cities like Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and Siem Reap, nor do they know the ease of investment in Cambodia compared to traditional alternatives, explained Guboglo.
“When speaking to investors at the expo, we confirmed that most only know of Cambodia from school history textbooks, and it is not a positive memory,” he said.
“By joining this exhibition, we are able to update the information about Cambodia, and demonstrate that it has now become a world-class investment destination, for returns or for living,” he said.
For this reason, education of investors in regards to Cambodia’s unique advantages for property investments is a key starting point, he said, and should naturally lead to increased investment.
In order to increase awareness about Cambodia, Guboglo’s company also held a competition for potential investors at the expo to win a free trip to Cambodia’s Siem Reap city and the temples of Angkor, as a means to highlight Cambodia’s unique tourism industry as well as investment prospects.
Tourism sector growth for Cambodia holds a key to future exposure of the local condo market to CIS investors, Guboglo predicted, a trend Thailand has witnessed already in recent years; first attracting CIS tourism in large numbers, soon followed by capital investments in real estate in those destinations.
“Russian and CIS nationals who previously preferred investments in European countries, including Spain and the UK, are now looking to South East Asia for better purchasing power, investment stability and long-term growth prospects,” he said.
Compared to their own countries and traditional overseas investment hotspots, Guboglo compared, Cambodia now has more dynamic gross domestic product (GDP) growth trends, better prices, full ownership mechanisms for foreigners, and better chances for their property investments to profit.
Furthermore, Cambodia is becoming a standout in the region in terms of value for money, and appreciation potential.
Guboglo explained that many CIS buyers who have invested in other parts of South East Asia already, such as Bangkok, Pattaya and Bali, now believe these markets to be overpriced and not suitable for new investments. “Hence Cambodia offers a greenfield investment opportunity that has plenty of room for appreciation, compared to places like Bali or Pattaya,” he said.
Guboglo confirmed some sales at the exhibition and has also invited investors to inspect properties in Cambodia in the coming months.
