On January 22, after 3 years of deliberation, the new Condominium Law was passed by the parliament on January 22. The new law gives foreigners the right to buy up to 40 percent of units in a condominium project. It defines a public-owned condominium, as the one that has six or more floors and built on registered publicly owned land; the land area has to be at least 20,000 square feet (1,858sq meter). Khin Maung Than, Chairperson of Myanmar Real Estate Entrepreneurs Association said, “We welcome condominium law that grants foreigners the right to buy a unit in a condominium. But, we don’t know exactly how foreigners are allowed to buy 40 percent of condominium units because detailed rules and regulations have not been announced yet”.
He also added, “Foreign investments are essential for economic growth because Myanmar is now a market economy. The condominium market will be strengthened because of this new law. In local condominium market, the amount of transacted cash flow is small and some companies had been dissolved due to the leak of cash inflows. There also have fraud occurring frequently in the market. There is a huge gap between rich and poor people classes in Myanmar. As the average price of a condo is over 100 million Kyats, only less than 20 percent of population can afford to buy them.”
Nay Min Thu, Managing Director of iMyanmar, an online property website said, “If foreigners have the right to buy condo units, the market will become strong again. In 2016, many condominiums will be completed and we expect the demand will also increase. In the past, if foreigners want to live in Myanmar for a long time, they have to buy condominium through local Myanmar people they trust. When foreigners have the right to buy condominium themselves, that market will disappear”. According to Myanmar Real Estate Entrepreneurs Association, condominium projects have been increasing. If all the current condo projects are completed, it is estimated there will be additional 20,000 condominium units in 2017. In the current condominium market, most condominiums do not have the qualities that they should have and the developers frequently failed to hand over the condo units to buyers within the agreed time. As a result, people lost trust in developers and in condominium market and the market has recently seen a slump in sales.
