Do Foreign Buyers in Cambodia Need a Property Holding Company?

Many foreign buyers arrive in Cambodia with a habit formed in another market, the assumption that property should be held through a company. In much of the region that was the only way for a foreigner to gain real control of an asset. Cambodia is different, because it already offers a direct ownership instrument that most of its neighbours do not, and the first question is whether a corporate structure is needed at all.

One rule the whole region shares

Across Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Bali, a foreigner cannot own the land itself. What differs is everything built above that floor. Cambodia lets foreign buyers hold freehold condominium units under strata title, from the first floor upward, up to a set share of each building. The regional caps make the contrast clear.

• Cambodia, up to 70 percent of a building may be foreign-owned freehold under strata title
• Thailand, up to 49 percent foreign freehold in a condominium
• Vietnam, up to 30 percent per building, and only as a renewable land-use right rather than freehold
• Bali, no freehold condominium category for foreign individuals

What strata title already solves

A foreign buyer purchasing a Phnom Penh condominium above the ground floor already holds the strongest direct instrument available to a foreigner in the region. The strata title created under Cambodia's 2010 co-ownership law is a freehold certificate in the buyer's own name, with no company to form, no local shareholder partner, and no annual corporate filing. For a resale or off-plan condo bought as a home or a rental, that is usually all that is required. Adding a company only layers on governance, cost and tax complexity that the title has already made unnecessary.

When a company structure earns its place

The company becomes the right answer when the asset sits outside strata title. Villas, shophouses, commercial buildings and land cannot be held on a strata certificate, and the recognised route to control is a Cambodian-majority private limited company, with local shareholders holding at least 51 percent and the foreign investor up to 49 percent. Portfolio consolidation and an existing local business can also justify it. The trade-offs matter at exit too. A direct property transfer currently attracts a 4 percent transfer tax, while selling shares in a company has been subject to a 20 percent capital gains tax since 1 January 2026, and part of a company gain can be treated as a dividend taxed differently again. These points are quantifiable before you choose a structure, not after. We map the structure to the asset before purchase, and we always recommend independent legal and tax advice.