How Much Deposit Do You Need to Buy in Cambodia?
A practical walk-through of buying property in Cambodia — legal steps, real costs, timeline, and the mistakes to avoid.
Foreigners entering the Cambodian property market usually ask the same questions in a slightly different order. This piece is written for that person — someone who wants specifics, not marketing.
What Foreigners Can Actually Own
Under Cambodia's 2010 Law on Foreign Ownership of Co-Owned Buildings, non-Cambodians can own units from the first floor and above in buildings that hold strata (co-owned) title. Ground-floor units, land itself, and any property below the first storey remain restricted. In practice this means a foreigner can hold a Phnom Penh condo outright with their own name on the strata title, but a plot of land in Kandal must be structured differently — usually through a majority-Cambodian company or a long lease.
The Purchase Timeline
A typical foreign purchase runs six to ten weeks:
- Reservation — a deposit of USD 1,000–5,000 locks the unit while the SPA is drafted.
- Sale & Purchase Agreement — bilingual, signed within two to four weeks.
- Down payment — 10–30% depending on completion stage.
- Title transfer or strata registration — handled by the developer or the seller's lawyer at the Ministry of Land Management.
- Handover — keys, meter transfers, sinking-fund top-up.
Expect fees to add roughly 4–5% on top of the sticker price, mostly the 4% transfer tax plus modest legal and registration line items.
Due Diligence Checklist
- Confirm strata title is issued (or committed on schedule) — a soft title is not enough for a condo.
- Verify the developer's construction permit and land title.
- Check whether the sinking fund and management fees are realistic for the amenities on offer.
- Ask for the co-owners' regulations — this is the private law of the building.
- Have a Cambodian-qualified lawyer review the SPA in both languages.
Never skip step 4. It's the document that decides what happens when the roof leaks or the lobby needs repainting.
Payment and Escrow Reality
Escrow is available in Cambodia but rarely mandatory. Serious buyers now insist on a milestone-based payment schedule and, for off-plan, developer performance guarantees. If a seller pushes for the full amount in one wire before title transfer, that is a red flag regardless of who they are.
Common Mistakes We See
Buyers routinely make the same three mistakes: they trust a verbal promise on furnishings, they rely on a WhatsApp reservation instead of a written SPA, and they underestimate service charges. Fix those three and the rest of the process becomes surprisingly boring — which is what you want.
Where to Go From Here
If you're actively considering Cambodia, two useful next steps: browse our current inventory in Listings to calibrate on real prices, and talk to our Concierge team — a 30-minute call routinely saves buyers weeks of research and a few thousand dollars of avoidable fees.