How do people of Myanmar assess the economy, real estate markets in Myanmar?  What are the destinations for the people of Myanmar to invest abroad?

            On Monday, March 27, 2017, Dr.Sopon Pornchokchai, President of the Thai Appraisal Foundation and the Agency for Real Estate Affairs went to give a speech for the members of the Myanmar Real Estate Services Association: MRESA in Yangon.  This MRESA has over 5,000 members nationwide.  It is one of the largest real estate association in ASEAN.  Members are property developers, investors, brokers, consultant and the like. 

            During the speech of Dr.Sopon, he conducted a questionnaire survey to the participants.  There were around a hundred questionnaires answered.  The followings are the results of the survey conducted.

            1. Considering economy, the largest proportion of them (44%) said that the 2017 economy must be better than the economy in 2016.  Those who perceived to be unchanged was 26%  Those who said worse or worst compared to 2016 were 30% and 13% respectively.  On the whole, the economy of Myanmar which is the most active one in the Region would still grow very positively.

            2. Considering real estate markets in Yangon, 45% said it would be better than the markets in 2016.  Some 34% said it would be the same as that in 2016 and only 205 said it would be worsening.  Actually, real estate markets would move in accordance with the economy.  Since the economy of Myanmar is good, real estate markets would be very bright as well.

            3. Considering the property markets in Myanmar as a whole, some 42% still believe that would be better than last year.  Some 33% said it would be the same which was good last year too.  Only some 25% said it would be worsening which should be unlikely to be so.

            4. Considering the most active sectors in real estate in 2017, the ranking is as follows:

            First, it would be rental apartment, 29% voted.

            Second, it would be land markets, 22% voted.  Land is a factor of production.

            Third, it would be office space, 15% voted.  It could be observed that the need of office space is growing a lot resulting from the influx of investment into Myanmar.

            Fourth, it would be shopping centre, 12% voted.  There should be quite a number of newly planned shopping centres in Yangon.  However, the purchasing power is still low but growing rigorously.

            Fifth, it would be industrial estates or industrial properties, 11% voted.

            Sixth, it is housing estates including residential condominiums, voted for 10%.  This market still needs a certain period of time to wait for strong local affordability.

            5. There is an interesting question if he/she could buy a house abroad, where are his/her destinations.  The followings are the answers.

            First, it is Singapore with 44% voted.  It is very amazing that this tiny city state wins the preference of the investors of Myanmar.  It looks clean, tidy, secure for them.

            Second, Thailand has been voted for 30%  This is because there are millions of people from Myanmar working in Thailand.  They may feel that Thailand is their 'second' home.

            Third is the United States of America.  Although it is quite far away from Myanmar, United States was voted for 15%  This is the land of new hope, new lives particularly for the new generations.

            The rest consisted of Malaysia (4%), Australia and New Zealands (3%), Europe 3% and thelike.

            These are some responses of the investors of Myanmars which should be taken into consideration for investors who would like to invest in Myanmar.