The Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers, an Ireland-based organisation of property auctioneers and estate agents, said it has signed a deal with the EU Myanmar Centre (EUMC) to tap the opportunities in Myanmar’s real estate market.
EUMC is a non-governmental organisation tasked with facilitating trade, commerce and investment between Myanmar and the 28 EU Member States.
The agreement, signed by IPAV’s senior vice president, Eamon O’Flaherty and a Director of the EUMC, opens up a plethora of possibilities, such as sharing of professional education expertise and new accreditation programmes, the organisation said.
“We believe that this co-operation agreement could see Ireland take the lead in assisting Myanmar achieve its objective in terms of professionalising and modernising estate agency. You could see student exchange happening between the two countries, thereby opening up vast new opportunities for both countries,” O’Flaherty said.
Billy Harkin, program director at EUMC, said estate agency activity is but one of the myriad of developments being strongly advanced now in Myanmar, along with the establishment of new physical and social infrastructure, legal and institutional frameworks.
The Myanmar government is currently openly inviting, facilitating and promoting trade and foreign direct investment (FDI), while simultaneously removing any residual structural legacy impediments to growth.
“Myanmar is truly a land of opportunity in this next phase of its development. … Myanmar is looking to adopt many of the EU standards of professional practice and IPAV is in a position to deliver those standards in estate agency.”
Myanmar, which has a population of about 52 million and a land area equivalent to France and the UK combined, is rich in natural resources including oil, gas, timber and the world’s best quality jade and rubies.
Harkin also highlighted that international participation in the land and property market in Myanmar is at a “pretty embryonic stage,” and land prices are wide ranging – with typically an acre of land in the main Yangon City currently selling for up to $100 million, while agricultural land can cost as low as only a few thousand US dollars per acre.
“Myanmar is embracing a free press, an open-market-economy ethos, and actual practice. As the market develops, much change can be anticipated and herein lay the opportunities for locals and their international partners alike,” Harkin said.
