Cambodia at a glance
Cambodia spent two decades as one of Asia's fastest-growing economies. In 2025 and into 2026 the market has reset sharply lower, driven by the closed Thai border and a bruised public image rather than by the fundamentals that built it. For a cash buyer that reset is the opportunity: prices have pulled back to an early-entry level, in a dollarized economy, ahead of the recovery that arrives when the border reopens and visitors return. This page lays out the data behind that case, the encouraging and the difficult alike.
All figures from official and institutional sources; see notes beside each chart.
From 2000 to 2019 Cambodia was among the world's fastest-growing economies, and GDP per capita has roughly tripled since 2010. Growth is now resetting: after 6.0% in 2024, institutions expect only about 3% in 2026, close to the 2021 figure, before the economy steadies again as trade and tourism normalise. A slower year is precisely when entry prices are at their kindest.
World Bank national accounts; 2026 figure is a forecast
Nearly 18 million people with a median age of about 26, more than a decade younger than China or Thailand, and almost half the country under 25. Phnom Penh’s metro population of ~2.4 million grows around 3% a year as young Cambodians move to the capital for work, sustaining demand for modern rental housing.
Arrivals set an all-time record of 6.70 million in 2024, then slipped to 5.57 million in 2025 and are set to fall to roughly 3.3 million in 2026, shown in red below. The cause is the closed Thai land border and reputational damage, not any loss of what actually draws visitors: Angkor, the coast and the river capital are all still there. Techo International Airport opened in 2025 with capacity scaling to 30 million passengers, built and waiting. When the border reopens and the image recovers, arrivals come back, and with them the short-stay rental demand they drive. The distance between today's low and that rebound is the investor's window.
Ministry of Tourism Cambodia; 2026 figure is a forecast
Cambodia is attracting record levels of approved investment, led by manufacturing relocation from China and regional expansion under the RCEP trade bloc. Capital inflows support employment, wages and long-term housing demand.
Over 90% of Cambodia's banking deposits and virtually all property transactions are in US dollars, and the riel has held near 4,000–4,100 to the dollar for two decades. For a foreign buyer that means effectively no local-currency risk, even in a down market: the asset and the eventual exit are both priced in dollars. There are no exchange controls on repatriating sale proceeds, and the 20% capital gains tax on property has been deferred until at least January 2027.
Riel exchange rate: 4,000–4,100 KHR/USD (two decades)
National Bank of Cambodia, Financial Stability Review 2025
Even before the reset, prime Phnom Penh sat far below Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City or Singapore per square metre. After the 2025–2026 pullback it is lower still, roughly 30% off the recent peak, which leaves clean-title Phnom Penh stock at a level no other Southeast Asian capital comes close to. Entry prices for foreign-quota strata units now start from around US$35,000–80,000.
Global Property Guide, Asian city square-metre prices (2026); Phnom Penh shown after the 2025–2026 reset
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