TWY wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 10:07 pm One difference though- in a western country you'd have to pay property tax, but do people here have to pay a property tax yet?
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From my very limited knowledge. Tax Authorities have been attempting to increase tax collections on properties being rented out/guesthouses - ie obvious commercial enterprises.

In the town we own a home authorities have been by to indicate that some sort of property tax is coming..... but exactly when and how much I don't know.

In the same town, a notice was given to a few people about a capital gains tax of 20% but it hardly explained anything nor indicated how it would be collected nor by whom. Locals (for the most part) don't understand that the 20% tax is on profit from the sale of land/house - and the authorities don't seem to understand it either - folks currently believe its a 20% tax on the total sale. My own guess is that they are still a year or two away from really doing this anywhere outside of larger cities.

My wife and I have had several discussions regarding buying real estate here, and it took her actually seeing what we could buy in the USA in comparison to Cambodia to begin to understand why I don't want to purchase anything here. She still doesn't really believe a property tax will be implemented here and she also believes that land will only increase in value. We've simply agreed to disagree.

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 11:50 pm There is also the phenomenon here where property owners will not drop their price below boom time expectations, no matter what the market is doing at the time. Preferring to sit on unsold or empty properties rather than drop their price.

I suspect it is partly some kind of twisted ego thing - their self esteem has risen with the skyrocketing prices, and to accept a bit lower price means a big loss of face. Stepping down in the world.

2-The vast majority of shophouses in boreys don't cost 300k.

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Sat Sep 19, 2020 6:10 pm I'm no expert, but I'll give my 2c worth as from what I gather, I'm the only one to comment so far who's bought/sold property here. [EDIT] I see TWY commented

1-Don't try to apply western logic to the local market. Property prices in most of Asia are much higher per square meter than in many developed western countries (especially places like the US, Canada, Australia, where land is plentiful). Just the way it is. On top of that, for the longest time here property and tangible assets like gold were the only things one could invest in (besides a business, which obviously most did). Keep in mind, even now the CSX only has like 7 companies listed after 8 years of operation. For decades prices didn't really budge, but 15-20 years ago the smart ones saw that things would change and bought up. Now I reckon in the past 10+ years people have clued in and realized it was easy to make a quick buck through real estate. Obviously that snowballed and has driven prices up. Also, most property until very recently wasn't bought on credit, so it's easy for owners to just sit on it. Still, it doesn't take a genius to see that Cambodia is never going to remain the same as it is today. Look at Bangkok, looks at KL, look at Singapore. Yes, I know Phnom Penh isn't Singapore, but the country has nowhere to go but up, and the naysayers are the same who were talking about overpriced/expensive prices ten/five/two years ago.