Airbnb in Cambodia: The Honest Math on Short-Term Rentals for Foreign Owners

Every Cambodian condo pitch eventually arrives at the same slide: “and you can Airbnb it.” The regulatory part of that promise is true in the laziest possible way — nobody will ask you for a permit. The economic part deserves the treatment this site gives every yield claim: a look at the actual data, which shows the average Phnom Penh listing empty two nights in three and grossing about as much in a year as a long-term lease pays in a quarter. This is the guide to both halves. Citations are marked [S-NNN]; the source list is at the end.

The one-line version

• The rules: no national STR law, no permits, no registry — the binding constraints are your building’s internal regulations, your lease if you rent, and tax law, which applies to platform income like any other rent.
• The math: market-average Phnom Penh Airbnb economics lose to a conventional long-term lease, decisively. Short-term pays only as a professionally operated hospitality business in a premium location — the same conclusion, at lower altitude, as our Bali analysis.

The legal position: legal by silence

Cambodia has no nationwide legislation governing short-term rental platforms. No specific permit or licence is required to host [S-153], and the market data backs the vacuum: Phnom Penh is classified as low-regulation with minimal registration requirements and zero percent of listings showing registration evidence [S-152]. Hosting happens openly, in volume, in every district tourists visit.

Two honest caveats before treating that as a green light. First, “no rule” is not “a right” — a regulatory vacuum can close, and the regional direction of travel (hotel-licensing enforcement against short stays elsewhere in Southeast Asia) shows what closing looks like. An STR business case that only works if the vacuum lasts a decade is a bet, not a plan. Second, the absence of a national rulebook just promotes the next rulebook down — and that one can absolutely say no.

The real rulebook: your building

The binding law of Cambodian short-term rental is written by co-owners and landlords, not parliament:

• Building rules. Condominiums and serviced buildings can and do prohibit short stays in their internal regulations; checking with the building’s management or owners’ association is step one, not a formality [S-153]. This belongs on the same diligence list as the quota and sinking fund when you are buying a resale unit — buy the building’s policy, not just the unit.
• Your lease, if you rent. Tenant-hosts re-letting on platforms are a known pattern, and leases increasingly carry explicit subletting prohibitions [S-153]. Rental arbitrage on a lease that forbids it is not a strategy; it is a dispute with a start date.
• Your manager. If a property manager runs the unit, their contract and the building’s rules need to agree with your platform plans — in writing.

The taxes nobody volunteers at the listing stage

Platform income is ordinary Cambodian rental income. The headline rates: 10% of gross rent for residents, 14% for non-residents [S-089], with the mechanics depending on the arrangement — a company tenant withholds at source and remits to the GDT; individual-to-individual rentals leave the declaration with the owner; and company-owned property charges 10% VAT on rent with proper invoices [S-154]. None of this is changed by the booking arriving through an app, and the “Cambodia has no taxes” myth is no safer here than anywhere else. Underwrite STR income net of the withholding, the annual property tax, and — for exits after 2027 — the capital gains regime.

The math, honestly

Here is the Phnom Penh short-term market, trailing twelve months to May 2026 [S-152]:

Metric	Market average
Occupancy	32.6%
Average daily rate	$41
RevPAR (revenue per available night)	$13
Average annual revenue per listing	≈$2,100

Read that table the way we read “guaranteed return” brochures: the average listing is empty two nights of three and grosses about $175 a month. A conventional long-term lease on a decent central one-bedroom — the boring strategy — collects several times that, every month, with one tenant search a year.

The professional tier is a different business. Prime-district listings price at $45–120 a night in BKK1 (Siem Reap’s boutique zone higher still, at $70–160 with ~24% occupancy and brutal seasonality against Phnom Penh’s steadier ~35% business-travel demand), and a well-run unit can gross around $2,300 a month — before operating costs of 35–50% of gross: cleaning and turnover, utilities, the ~3% platform fee, a co-host or manager taking their cut, maintenance that tourist traffic accelerates [S-151]. Net, the strong operator clears perhaps $700–1,400 a month [S-151] — genuinely better than a long lease, if the occupancy that produces it is sustained at roughly double the market average.

That conditional is the entire analysis. Short-term rental in Cambodia is not a property feature; it is a small hospitality business with a thin and seasonal demand base. Run by a professional in the right building in the right district, it out-earns the lease. Run by an absentee owner at market- average performance, it underperforms the lease while generating ten times the work — and the person who told you otherwise was selling you the condo.

Who should actually do this

• Plausible: an owner-operator or contracted professional manager; a premium, walkable location (riverside/BKK1/Tonle Bassac in Phnom Penh, the boutique core of Siem Reap); a building whose rules allow it in writing; pricing and listing quality treated as a weekly job; underwriting at honest occupancy with the full expense stack [S-151] [S-152].
• Implausible: a remote owner expecting the advertised long-term yield plus an Airbnb premium on top. The data says the premium belongs to operators, not owners — and a mid-market still digesting a correction is not the place to discover that from twelve time zones away.

Before you list

• Get the building’s position in writing — internal regulations and management sign-off [S-153]; if you rent, your lease’s subletting clause decides everything.
• Underwrite at market occupancy first — 32.6% [S-152] — and let any number above it be earned by your operation, not assumed by your spreadsheet.
• Stack the full costs — 35–50% of gross in operations [S-151], plus 10%/14% rental withholding [S-089] and structure-dependent VAT [S-154].
• Compare against the lease you could sign tomorrow — the long-term market is the opportunity cost every STR projection must beat.
• Treat the regulatory vacuum as weather, not climate — price in the possibility of licensing arriving mid-hold.

The takeaway

Cambodia is one of the easiest places in Asia to put a condo on Airbnb and one of the hardest to make it worth doing. The legal layer is permissive to the point of silence — no permits, no registry — which moves the real rules into your building’s bylaws and your tax filings. The economic layer is the sobering one: at one-third occupancy and $41 a night, the average Phnom Penh listing is a hobby with cleaning fees, comfortably beaten by the long-term lease this site has always treated as the base case. The exception is real but narrow: professional operation, premium location, a building that says yes, and occupancy you sustain rather than hope for. If that describes your plan, you are opening a micro-hotel — price it like one. If it doesn’t, sign the lease. None of this is investment, legal, or tax advice; rules and market data shift, so verify the current position before you commit.

Sources

• [S-089] IPS Cambodia — Cambodia Property Tax Guide — rental income withholding: 10% residents, 14% non-residents.
• [S-151] Bamboo Routes — How Profitable Are Airbnb Rentals in Cambodia? (April 2026) — Phnom Penh ≈35% occupancy (business-travel base) vs Siem Reap ≈24% with sharp seasonality; BKK1 $45–120/night, Sala Kamreuk $70–160; ≈$55 national ADR; well-run listings ≈$2,300/month gross; operating expenses 35–50% of gross; net $700–1,400/month for strong operators.
• [S-152] AirROI — Phnom Penh Airbnb Market Report (TTM June 2025–May 2026) — market averages: 32.6% occupancy, $41 ADR, $13 RevPAR, ≈$2,126 average annual revenue per listing; low-regulation classification, minimal registration requirements, 0.0% of listings with registration evidence.
• [S-153] IPS Cambodia — Becoming an Airbnb Host in Cambodia — no specific permits or licences required to host; check owners’-association rules, lease subletting clauses, and local zoning; income tax due on profits and VAT potentially applicable; ~3% platform host fee; insurance recommended.
• [S-154] IPS Cambodia — Navigating Rental Property Taxes in Cambodia — 10% (citizens) vs 14% (foreign owners) on gross rent per the agreement; withholding mechanics by arrangement (company tenants withhold and remit; individual-to-individual declared by owner); company-owned rentals charge 10% VAT with invoices; GDT registration/TIN for corporate landlords.