China's capital boosts Cambodia's property ,which is mostly bought by Chinese people.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, may be experiencing one of the world's fastest real estate booms, thanks to Chinese builders and homebuyers, Bloomberg reported.

Now , the city, once famous for its French colonial villas and modernist "New Cotton Building " of the 1960s, is becoming indistinguihable. Traditional buildings are being replaced by expensive high-rise condominums in a city where the average family income is only about $11,000.

Ross Wheble ,regional director of Knight Frank, a real estate consultancy, siad:" In my opinion , the pace of development here is shocking. The market for high-end apartments is defintely oversupply. What we are seeing now is a slowdown in sales and leasing. The numbet of Cambodians who can afford these apartments is limited , and domestic demand is essential to build a sustainable market.

Phnom Penh is a more estreme example of the ongoing real estate boom across Asia. In the second quarter of this year , the average price of high-end apartments in Phnom Penh, was $3,200 per square meter . up 60% from 2013 ,according to CBRE. Doun Penh ,the central business district of Phnom Penh  , hae a land price of  $9,000 per square meter , nerly 3  times that of 2014.

The supply of apartments in Phnom Penh is expected to double this year to more than 20,000 units, according to Shibang Weilishi. For the second poorest country in Southeast Asia , some of the approved projects are huge.

The Port Bay Project of Guangzhou Yuetai Group incudes 24 high-rise  buildings on the riverbank of Phnom Penh , while the Macau-based Sun Kian Ip Group plans to invest $2.7 billon to build a 133-storey twin- tower World Trade Center, one of the world's tallest buildings.

In 2017 , Cambodia received $6.3 billion in foreign direct investment , nearly double the amount in 2016. China has been Cambodia's largest investor for the past 5 years. Earlier this year, Chinese companies pledged to add $7 billion tonew projects, including a highway linking Phnom Penh and Sihanouk.

As a gateway to Angkor wat,a scenic spot in Cambodia, Siem Reap,a coastal city, has also become a target for Chinese investors.Last year, Cambodia's Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction approved more than 3,000 projects thoughout the country , worth $6.42 billion, almost twice as much as in 2015.

Most of the new apartments were bought by Chinese investors,who neither live in Cambodia nor rent them,leaving behind some development zones, such as the main riverside area of Tonle Bassac ,which, despite dozens of buit high-rise buildings , is horribly dark at night.

For Chinese developers, Cambodia, as an economically fundamentally dollarized and government-friendly country, provides a way to generate income outside China. Although land and apartment prices have risen sharply here, they are still a small part of China's housing prices.