Can Chinese citizens buy property in Cambodia? Yes, a unit above the ground floor. Never the land.

Can Chinese citizens buy property in Cambodia?

Yes, a private unit in a registered co-owned building. Article 5 of the Law of 24 May 2010 gives foreign nationals ownership rights in such units. Article 8 of the Land Law 2001 reserves land ownership to natural persons and legal entities of Khmer nationality, so the ground is closed.

The 2010 law repeats the land point for co-owned buildings: in any case the land parcel where the co-owned building is located cannot be subject to the ownership of special co-owners. So the unit is yours and the land under the building is not, which is the same structural split as the Philippines.

None of this depends on which foreign passport the buyer holds.

The full position: Cambodia property for foreign buyers.

What are the ground floor rule and the 70 percent cap?

Article 6 of the 2010 law gives foreigners ownership rights in private units only from the first floor up: ground floors and underground floors cannot be owned by foreigners. The cap is 70 percent of the total surface size of all private units in the building, set by Sub-Decree No. 82 of 29 July 2010, Article 2.

Two details that matter more than they look. The cap is measured on floor area, not on unit count, so a building can be closed to further foreign registration while plenty of units are still unsold. And ground means level zero in Cambodian usage, so never translate the rule as second floor.

You can check the cap on the document itself. Sub-Decree 82 Article 3 requires the Cadastral Authority to write each unit's surface size proportion against the building total onto the ownership certificate. Ask to see it.

Breach is not a technicality. Article 11 makes a transfer in violation of Article 6 null and void with restitution. Foreigners also cannot own units within 30 kilometres of a land border, except in special economic zones, important urban areas and other areas the Royal Government designates.

The detail: the ground floor rule and the 70 percent cap.

What do China's foreign exchange rules say about buying property abroad?

SAFE, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, publishes an individual facility with an annual total equivalent to USD 50,000 per person. Overseas property purchase is not among the uses the individual foreign exchange purchase application form permits. Take professional advice on lawful routes before committing to a purchase abroad.

Article 2 of the Detailed Rules for the Measures for the Administration of Individual Foreign Exchange gives the annual total amount as the equivalent of 50,000 dollars for each person every year. SAFE's own explanation of those rules separates current account items, which run under the annual amount, from capital account items, which carry their own approval and registration steps.

Since 2017 an individual buying foreign exchange completes an application form stating the purpose, and As SAFE's own form states, the form does not permit the foreign exchange to be used for property, securities or dividend paying insurance products abroad.

On the Cambodian side, money moves in and out through a Cambodian bank, under the Law on Foreign Exchange. The bank reports transfers at or above USD 100,000 and a traveller must declare cash at or above USD 10,000 at the border. Cambodia's openness on its side says nothing about what is lawful on the other side, which is the point a mainland buyer has to resolve with a qualified professional first.

This page states the published rules and does not set out ways around them.

Does buying in Cambodia give a Chinese citizen residency?

Not automatically, and the published figures for the residency programme do not agree with each other. Aggregated residency programme commentary, including IMI Daily, reports a membership fee, a qualifying property purchase and a bank deposit at different amounts. Get the current figures from the programme operator or the Ministry of Interior before relying on any of them.

The values encountered in that commentary include a one-time membership fee of USD 50,000, purchase of a government approved property from USD 85,000, a requirement to hold USD 100,000 in a Cambodian bank for the programme's duration, and a headline of at least USD 100,000 invested in real estate projects. Those cannot all describe the same requirement, so none of them is published here as the number.

Treat the residency question and the purchase as two separate projects until an official source settles it, and do not let a sales process rely on a figure that a programme operator has not confirmed in writing.

What does a Chinese owner pay in Cambodia on the way in, on the rent and on the way out?

A 4 percent transfer tax on the way in, paid by the buyer on market value and filed within three months, with registration held until it is paid. An annual tax on immovable property of 0.1 percent above the threshold. On rent to a non-resident, 14 percent withholding, final, where the payer is a resident taxpayer carrying on business.

The annual tax is charged on a base of 80 percent of value, on property above KHR 100,000,000, and is filed between 1 January and 30 September. Capital gains tax at 20 percent exists in the Law on Taxation, but its application to immovable property has been deferred again, to 1 January 2027 on the most recent professional reporting, so check its status before modelling an exit.

The full stack: Cambodia property buying costs and Cambodia property tax for foreigners.

Header photo: Mao Piseth, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. All credits: image credits.