In late December the Cambodian government announced that a new national property tax would be imposed in early 2011. The annual tax will be set at 0.1% of the value of all real estate, including land, houses, apartments and any other buildings. Under the Finance for Management Law, passed in November 2009, the tax will be imposed on properties valued at over CR100m (US$24,000) by an evaluation committee. The new property tax is likely to be payable on an estimated 180,000 urban properties and should generate US$3m-4m in revenue each year, according to Ministry of Economy and Finance estimates.

The new property levy is part of wider plans to implement new taxes and enforce payment of existing taxes to boost revenue and cover increasing expenditure. The property tax alone will make little difference to the overall budget, but it is a step towards making taxation acceptable for Cambodians who have previously paid very little official tax. However, given that there are relatively few property transactions in Cambodia and that there is not much agreement over the value of real estate, not to mention widespread corruption, transparently setting and collecting reasonable property taxes may prove difficult. Real estate in Phnom Penh is thought to have lost in excess of 40% of its value since it peaked in 2008-09.