MYANMAR’S per capita annual income, at US$1,204, may be among the lowest in the world, but KAE Alliance believes there are plenty of rich people in Myanmar who can afford a luxury condominium unit outside the country.
After offering condos in Singapore in the Myanmar market, the real-estate agency yesterday unveiled some luxury condominiums in the Paradiso Nuova Medini project, in the heart of Malaysia’s Iskandar development, about 15 minutes’ drive to Singapore.
The units, at 300,000-330,000 kyat per square foot (US$230.40-$253.50 per square foot or Bt90,000-Bt99,000 per square metre), have asking prices of 230 million to 500 million kyat ($176,651-$384,025 or Bt6.4 million to Bt14 million) each.
Kyaw Min Zin, chief executive officer of KAE Alliance, a subsidiary of Singapore’s KAE Holdings, said the recent depreciation of the Malaysian ringgit against Myanmar’s kyat offered a great opportunity for such an investment, aside from a 10-year residence privilege.
“In the past, we had to buy 1 ringgit with about 450-500 kyat. Now, it is equal to about 300 kyat. So when the ringgit appreciates, the buyers will surely gain,” he said at the press conference on Thursday.
He said foreigners were generally prohibited from buying a condo worth less than 1 million ringgit (Bt8.2 million) in Malaysia, but this requirement did not apply to this condominium project, which is now 60 per cent completed. Plus, foreigners buying units at the project can apply for a 10-year visa-free permit.
Convincing him that the sales target in Myanmar will be met is the fact that of more than 40 units sold last month, two buyers were Myanmar citizens.
An exhibition will be held on January 23 in Yangon, where the agency hopes to sell at least 12 more units.
Kyaw Min Zin believes the prices of Malaysian properties are lower than those of luxury projects in Myanmar. Moreover, Iskandar is the biggest urban project in Southeast Asia and is very near Singapore. Myanmar businesspeople could be encouraged to invest there, and this should be supported by the existence of hundreds of thousand Myanmar workers in Malaysia and Singapore.
“We believe we can manage to sell more than 30 condominiums in six months,” he said.
Beside the Malaysian condominiums, KAE Alliance also sells Singaporean luxury properties in Myanmar, as well as units at luxury projects in Myanmar itself, including Royal Sayarsan, Golden City, Diamond Inya Palace, the IVY, Shwe Zawana, Pearl Cherry and Nan Htike Shwe Sin. Now Myanmar’s biggest condominium agency, KAE Alliance plans to be the agent for developers in Japan, Australia and Britain in the near future.
Source: The Nation
