Posted in Legislative Research on Jan 31, 2019

Although the Real Estate Services Bill had been submitted to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw since June, 2018 by the government, floor debates on the bill have not been made yet in both Houses. At the time of writing, the bill has been formally submitted to the Pyithu Hluttaw (lower house) on 30 January. The stated objectives in the bill are to regulate real estate agents, to enable service providers and service receivers enjoy the profits in line with the law and to ensure the sustainable development of the real estate market.

A central supervisory committee on real estate service led by a Union-level member and Region/State supervisory committees will be formed tasked with realization of the bill’s objectives. Upon the enactment of the legislation, service receivers will enjoy the legal protection and service providers will have to abide by the law in operating real estate businesses.

The Myanmar Economic Survey (2015) conducted by the Central Statistics Organization covered the 29 businesses of real estate services registered in any form. According to the survey, 65.7 percent of the real estate businesses were registered at the offices of Township Development Committee while 59.3 percent at the Union ministry or related organizations. The survey stated that 13.1 percent of the businesses hold company registration. These findings suggest that the real estate business is far from any kind of formal regulation.

According to the survey, even the businesses of real estate registered were small family businesses. (56.3 percent of the real estate businesses were founded more than 20 years ago, 78.6 percent were running with less than four employees and 53.5 percent were an annual income/operating income of less than K10 million.)

When the law is enacted, the government will tax the real estate services and collect information related to real estate dealings. The government is expected to use these data to inform policy making in the industry.