DAW San San, 33, a purified drinking water distributor, lets out a long sigh as she talks about trying to save some money to achieve her dream of buying an apartment.

“It’s hard to save money. Sometimes I even have trouble coming up with the cash to pay the apartment rental fees every time our contract is over. So I need to save some money every day,” she said.

Daw San San and her husband live together in low-cost housing on the outskirts of Yangon but dreams of owning an apartment on Thanlwin Road in Kamaryut township, closer to downtown.

But she is the first to admit that the dream seems a long way off.
“Our monthly expenses are K40,000 while our income is K60,000 from our small business. So the gap between income and expenses is K20,000 a month, but that doesn’t include money for things like medical emergencies,” she said.

She said the income gap has narrowed in the past several years, with the monthly apartment rental fee increasing from K15,000 to K25,000 since 2003 without an appreciable increase in their family income.

“It’s hard but I’ll never give up on my dream. If we work hard and fortune favours us, we’ll be able to buy our apartment someday,” Daw San San said with a smile.

Forty-year-old Daw Wah Wah, who lives at Yuzana Garden City at South Dagon Seikkan township, also hopes to buy her own apartment one day but faces similar struggles with saving money.

“My family is currently running a real estate service and a grocery store but I’m looking for other sources of income so we can save more money,” she said, adding that she has three children who are attending primary school without taking any tuition.

She said the family clears about K50,000 a month after expenses but apartment prices are increasing faster than their income.

“Our income has increased in the past few years but costs are rising even faster,” Daw Wah Wah said.

She said that when her family moved into Yuzana Garden City in 2001 apartments sold for K500,000 to 1.7 million but now they cost between K5.2 million to K8.4 million.

“I’m still waiting for the day when I can afford to buy an apartment. The days are passing but the dream is still just a dream,” she said.

However, many young adults said they were not concerned about whether they would be able to afford to buy apartments once they were married.

“I won’t choose my husband based on whether he can afford to buy an apartment. If I marry, I will pick someone who is capable and affectionate,” said 23-year-old Ma May Sin Oo, an accountant who lives with her parents.

“Communication is most important because if we understand each other, we can accomplish anything,” she said.

Ko Kyaw San, 29, said the idea of buying an apartment seems so remote that he does not really think about it.

“I live at home and I make nearly K150,000 a month. That’s plenty for now but it won’t be much if I get married,” he said.

“Even if I was making K600,000 a month it wouldn’t be easy to save enough money to buy an apartment in a short time. I can’t even guess how long it might be before I own my own apartment,” he said.

Ko Kyaw San said he would likely be able to get an apartment faster if he started his own business rather than worked for another company.

“But succeeding in business requires investing a lot of time and money. If I did that I wouldn’t consider getting married for awhile. I would be choosing an apartment over a wife,” he said.