What the lifting of US sanctions means for Myanmar’s property market
What the lifting of US sanctions means for Myanmar’s property market
The Obama administration’s farewell to the embargos could encourage foreign investment
Property experts expect an influx of expatriates into Myanmar’s housing market after President Barack Obama publicly vowed to lift remaining US economic sanctions from the formerly junta-led country.
Once sanctions are gone, “absolutely more foreign workers” will need office space and housing in the country,U Than Oo, deputy chair of the Myanmar Real Estate Services Association, recently told the Myanmar Times.
Foreign investment in real estate and construction is also expected to increase once the sanctions vanish, U Khin Shwe, patron of the Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association, also told the Times, adding that he feels compelled to “build offices and houses for foreign businesspeople”.
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Impressed by the progress Myanmar has made under de facto leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Obama last week said that the US will partially remove sanctions, many of which have been imposed on the ASEAN country since 1997, although he gave no definite time-frame other than “soon.” The US State Department announced that it will redefine an executive order, which describes Myanmar as an “extraordinary threat” to the US, and explore preferential trade arrangements with the country.
“We think that the time has now come to remove all the sanctions that hurt us economically because our country is in a position to open up to those who are interested in taking part in our economic enterprises,” said Daw Suu.
This development comes as government officials place greater scrutiny on high-rise construction projects that have fallen short of urban planning standards in Yangon. A high-rise review committee recently approved only 43 out of 55 new high-rise projects in the city, leaving 12 projects to change their design plans, according to The Irrawaddy.
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Source: Property Report