Property Valuation Industry Outlook, REMOC2016 on Realestate.com.khTV

• Report rights infringement
• published: 26 May 2016
• views: 1

Mr. Sim Hoy Chhoung, ceo, V Trust Appraisal Co. Ltd: What topic will you speak to at REMOC2016, and why is it a key consideration for the Cambodian Real Estate sphere? At REMOC2016 I will be speaking about property valuation industry and practice, and its importance in Cambodia. Of course, property valuation should be considered the heart of all the real estate activities and a key to developing our industry. This means that brokers and salespeople serving their clients should have a good understanding of valuation; the concepts, practices and methodology. A seller’s unrealistic asking price is a roadblock that an agent should avoid to save time and effort! Because banks take property as collateral to secure loans, weaknesses in valuation processes in the booming years could lead to a banking crisis later on, as we see from lessons learned from the Central Bank of Ireland study 2012. What were the most significant developments for the property market over the last year? Last year was the year of the condo and retail development. Thousands of units of condo launched and international grade shopping malls starting construction. These new developments still drive land market prices higher and higher until late last year. What makes you optimistic and what worries you about the Cambodian real estate market? Personally, I would not be worried about the real estate market for the year to come. The market will correct itself. In addition, compared to other countries, Cambodia still has a strict credit limit on mortgage loan and interest rates are high, and terms are shorter (below 70% credit availability while other countries are up to 80% or 90%). Let’s imagine what is going to happen if banks can increase the limit, lower interest rates or extend the terms... Or alternatively, if the government did some things to benefit the condo market such as taxes incentives… Steps like this could add more liquidity to the market and quickly boost it. What significant changes are you anticipating for the Cambodian real estate market over the next year? There will be a market correction in some subsectors and a switch of project development proposals toward the sub-sector’s that exhibit continuously high demand. The only thing that we all should know is that the market space is becoming narrower; so before committing to doing a development project, there needs to be a detailed market and feasibility study. And Vtrust is here to help in this regard. As I mentioned earlier, there are still room for policy makers to manipulate. So over the next year, the market can remain stable, one way or another.