Phnom Penh appears to be the next hot destination for property investors. I wasn't really into Cambodia until i saw the advertisement by Oxley for The Peak. The thing that attracted me to this development is that it is in the same complex as the new Shangri-La Cambodia and the location.
I have stayed in quite a lot of Shangri-La hotels in Asia and usually their choice of location is pretty good. Shangri-la Manila is right in the heart of Makati and next to the green belt. Shangri-La KL is along Bukit Bintang. Shangri-La Bangkok is along the Chao Phraya river. Shangri-La Yangoon is a little hard to say but appears central as i can't quite figure out where exactly is central in Yangoon. Shangri-La jakarta may be a little out of where the action is but still in central jakarta. Therefore it sparked my interest to check the location of The Peak out.
I have a slight advantage here as i have been to most major cities Asia Pacific and to Cambodia a few times too. Each time i will stay at the NagaWorld Hotel which is also a casino for those not familiar and the only casino in the capital city. To the locals it is a five star hotel but for us it is more like a 3-4 star. In this hotel, you can see a lot of mainland chinese here to gamble and have some fun. They are also building a underground shopping mall called 'City Walk'.
The Peak is located behind NagaWorld and near to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Assembly. It is opposite the diamond island which has a convention center and a pipeline of several new developments. There is also a AEON mall within 5 minutes walk and the development itself will have 5 floors of retail stores. The main selling point to me for this development is the location and the prestige of having the Shangri-La brand name in the same premises. I bought a unit on the 17th floor and it is east and river facing which overlook the diamond island. In a few years time, this area of Phnom Penh will for sure look drastically different as many developments are already in the pipeline. Feels and sounds like the new gold rush.
With much of its population living below the poverty line, this doesn't appear a very sound investment. Therefore, you can forget about reselling to the locals but perhaps the expatriates or leasing to the diplomatic staffs as it is right in the embassy area. However, I am seeing it more as a growth region together with the whole indo-china region. I can sense that they may be trying to position this as the 'playground' for Asians with the casino and the very 'liberal' culture there. I don't really have much of a feel of their domestic economy which i think they are behind or will be even further behind Vietnam. Strangely there are not even in the Transpacific Pacific Partnership (TPP) unlike Vietnam and their major industry is garment manufacturing. Probably they are still under the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) Status thus do not need to pay taxes anyway for US and Europe. The economic outlook appear uncertain except for tourism. It is only a short flight for many Asian countries wanting some fun in this sin city. Time will tell if this investment is the right decision. Fingers crossed!
