Cheap to rent, expensive to buy.
and prices are still going up. Also, look at the Snooky Ville Blog and SihanoukVille Infrastructure Blog for more info on what's going on around town.
a little more info (but definitely not legal advice of any kind or guaranteeed 100% correct) .... Foreigners in Cambodia CAN NOT own land. There are special circumstances, such as when you invest several hundreds of thousands of dollars (U.S.) in a business or if you make a large donation to the government. You can however, aparently get a legal lease for up to 99 years. (most all the islands have been leased off this way).
Beachfront property can not be owned by anyone as it is public property (perhaps 30 meters from the high water line) ... (see above about large donations). However, usually the owner of land in front of the beach seems to have control over the beach directly in front of the land.
There are a number of mechanisms for foreigners "purchasing" land here, but best to go through a lawyer for any of these methods.
Of the nine banks in town (10 next week), most provide loans for land purchases or leases. Paperwork takes about a month and cost about $1,000 if you do it yourself. The land title is held as collateral, and a usually a down payment of 20% or more must be proven.
The most popular purchase / lease lately has been to buy a chunk of land, subdivide it with fences, put up a plot sign, and sell off the plots at greatly appreciated prices and use that money to buy more land.
Also, around Sihanoukville, there are 2 Special Economic Zones, which are attracting interest.
And then there's land around the SihanoukVille airport. Scheduled to be the main airport for Cambodia in the near future. Insiders have already purchased most of this land and prices went up several thousand percent overnight.
Land prices over the last few years have gone up as much as 9,000%, so it is essential to get a secure title over the land. Title insurance is hard to come by here.
Best way to look for land / apartments / buildings / businesses / factories for rent is to come look for yourself. Expect anyone showing you a property to get a one month's rent commission for themselves (from the rentor, not you).
Besides the several real estate agencies in town, at Ana Travel (downtown only) several deals seem to be made in their restaurant out front (between ANZ Bank, Canadia Bank, Mekong Bank, UCB Bank, ACLEDA Bank, and 2 others i can't think of the names......)