THERE may be pain in New York, fear in London and depression in Tokyo. But the Myanmar housing market is looking at a boom.

Developers in Yangon, seeing no evidence that the worldwide financial crisis is directly affecting the local housing market, have scheduled major new projects for the coming year.

U Ko Ko Lay, director of Three Friends Construction said “We are planning to build new apartment blocks with lifts in downtown Yangon, Yankin and Mingalar Taung Nyunt townships before Thingyan next year. We expect to complete 15 duplexes this year and more next year in Sanchaung, Bahan and North Dagon townships.”

“This is a sign that the property market here is booming, with high demand for both purchase and rental. We’re now negotiating with the owners for duplex construction with Planned Area Estimation (PAE) system, where the cost of the apartment is based on the floor area. These take three months each to finalise,” he said.

He added that the local property market had slowed after the 2003 banking crisis, but the current financial meltdown seemed to have no effect on it.

“This crisis is not affecting the property sector. That’s the main reason why developers are planning to build more apartment blocks next year. Unlike government projects, private con-struction firms rely on their own investment, not on bank loans, so they are not subject to delay,” he said.

U Ko Ko Lay said there had been no significant change in the price of construction materials this year so far, which would help to keep property prices down next year.

U Zarni Myo Win, director of Hlaing Thar Yar based Landmark Construction said:

“Next year we aim to build 30 two-storey duplexes on Kyan Sit Thar road for K19.5 million, with construction likely to start at the end of December.

“Over the next six months we’re focusing on building a 20,000-square-foot, three-storey office block at Aung Zay Ya City in Hlaing Tharyar, which we will start as soon as we get permission from YCDC and the housing department,” he said.

“We’re aiming to construct more residential blocks than last year to fulfil the needs of the suburban residential sector based on our own financial resources. Unlike in downtown, sales are slower in that area, so we’ve been trying to attract customers with price discounts,” he said.

U Zarni Myo Win added if the crisis started to affect the local property market there could be a significant decrease of sales and the construction of infra-structure in the outskirts of Yangon.

U Than Oo, managing director of Mundine real estate agency, said: “Even though the current financial crisis has not yet affected the property sector here yet, it might do so next year. We suffered a crisis in the property market in 1997, which put an end to the golden age of the property market. The strength of the property market depends on the country’s economy. We expect that if property taxes remain unchanged after August 2009 and the global financial crisis eases, we hope to see a stronger property market here in 2009.”