Myanmar luxury property reels from foreign-buyer confusion

SINGAPORE (March 23): Confusion over a law allowing foreigners to buy condominiums in  Myanmar is prolonging a slowdown in its residential property sector, highlighting the challenges of regulatory flux in the frontier market.

The legislation adopted in January 2016 leaves unanswered questions such as whether it applies to existing apartments, hurting efforts to woo investors. The outlook now depends partly on bylaws the government is working on to clarify the legislation, according to local developer Yoma Strategic Holdings.

"We expect the bylaws early this year," Yoma Executive Director Cyrus Pun said in an interview. "It’ll be a big change for the sector. There was a very bullish market from 2011 as the economy opened up and investment came in, but residential property has quietened down quite a lot in the past 18 months."

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