Cambodia finds new target for real estate: China investors

Phnom Penh

TO sell real estate in Cambodia, agents are brushing up on their Mandarin.

Across this traditionally low-rise Cambodian capital, a building boom is becoming more noticeable as it pushes higher into the sky, and its largest projects are often geared towards Chinese investors, who have only recently taken interest in the nation's real estate market.

Chinese investors are flocking to Phnom Penh, which had primarily been an investment destination for South-east Asians, Taiwanese, Japanese, South Koreans and some Westerners.

For many of the capital's largest projects, Chinese are now viewed as the target market.

"Historically, Chinese investment in Cambodia has mainly been in infrastructure," said Ross Wheble, the country manager for Cambodia for the real estate consultant Knight Frank. "It is only within the past 18 months that we…