COVID19: IPS Cambodia Real Estate Market Insights

COVID-19 Impact on Real Estate Industry: A market update with IPS Managers

The outspread of Covid-19 has left the expenditures of consumers crimping, the businesses closing, the employees working from home, and the global economy declining. Because of this, Covid-19 is making a huge impact in the real estate industry.

“All businesses are facing big changes that no one knows for how long it’s going to carry on, and this brings a lot of uncertainty into the market. If this situation carries on for a short period, say three months, expect the impact to be quite minimal. If we’re looking at a longer period, say 12 to 18 months then the effect is going to be much larger,”

Says Grant Fitzgerald, the country manager of IPS-Cambodia in an interview for an #IPSTV Episode 04 – COVID19: IPS Cambodia Real Estate Market Insights

As more people practice social distancing—along with countries implementing lockdown—the tourism industry of Cambodia has also felt the brunt of the pandemic.

According to David Granger, IPS Siem Reap branch manager, Siem Reap has been greatly affected by the COVID19 pandemic as tourist numbers have dropped and businesses are closed.

Despite the mounting fears, it’s not to say that everything could be in turmoil as there are still a lot of opportunities in the market despite the global effect of the economic crisis brought about by the pandemic.

“For property, land, and housing, there are owners urgently selling their land to obtain cash. These properties are often being sold under market value, which means as an investor or a home buyer, there will be an increase in the value of the property after the Covid-19 recovery,” says David Granger.

“There are also opportunities to obtain long-term rental properties, villas, businesses, and hotels. These are usually rented for terms of five years. Most certainly, the next six months will be a difficult period but by taking out a long term lease now, tenants can negotiate a very low price…a low price they will continue to enjoy for the entire five-year term of the contract.” he added.

Enforced isolation and prohibited public gatherings were strictly imposed to contain the spread of virus. These policies have left many industries seeking solutions to still operate their businesses-as-usual. 

While some transactions can no longer be held in-person, Grant said that IPS is conducting new ways of doing business operations to continuously serve its clients, at the same time ensuring the health of its employees.

“For IPS, we had to adapt to the current conditions whilst also assuring our core operations are still going. The number one priority is the safety of our clients and our staff, so at the moment, most of our staff are working remotely and we’ve implemented a social distance policy to ensure that everyone is healthy.”

In addition to facilitating efficient transactions remotely, IPS will also be focusing on keeping an active online presence ensuring clients that the business will remain operational.

As stated by Granger, the website of IPS is up and running to allow sellers and agents to continuously list and negotiate properties for their clients, as they normally would, but from their homes.

"IPS Team is always available to help with buying, selling, or renting a property. Clients can contact our staff on any of our regular channels. For those who are seeking to buy property or rent a house or apartment, IPS have identified good value properties that are listed on IPS website. For owners who are looking to sell property, IPS have cash buyers in hand now, who are looking for good value properties,” he added.

Also read: COVID-19 Economic Crisis: Is it a Good Time To Sell?