A gardener mows the lawn of an upmarket home at FMI City in Hlaing Tharyar township on May 21. (For more information on this property see House of the Week below). Homes with gardens in the mid-to-lower end of the market are proving harder to sell this year as buyers shy away from the cost and effort of maintenance in favour of better amenities found in more densely populated, downtown areas, sources say. Pic: Aung Tun Win

YANGON homebuyers are shunning properties with gardens due to unwanted maintenance costs and a preference for steady water and power supplies rather than a large section.

Most homes with gardens that fall within the majority of people’s budgets are located in areas with lower electricity and water supplies, often far from Yangon’s downtown, sources in the property sector said.

“Buyers’ first priority has become getting regular electricity and being in a neighbourhood with good infrastructure,” said the owner of a major Myanmar construction company who asked not to be identified.

“Most people feel that having to pay maintenance fees (for gardens) is just a waste of money,” he said.

U Ko Ko Aung, a business-man in his early 30s who owns a company exporting beans and pulses, said he liked the idea of living in a house with a garden but said the work required to maintain it and the likelihood his lifestyle would be cramped by the absence of other amenities if he chose such a home meant he was unlikely to buy one.

“Electricity at affordable places with gardens is not very good since most of them are out of town. Also, some places don’t have tube wells and we have to rely on the mains water supply, which is less reliable in the summer,” U Ko Ko Aung said.

While there are many attractive, leafy homes with large gardens in well-serviced townships such as Bahan, these are well beyond most buyers’ means.

And with rising work pressures, many people are also being put off high-maintenance properties.

“It is nice to have a house with a nice lawn and garden, but if I buy a house like that I have to think about how I’m going to look after it,” said U Ko Ko Aung.

“Since I'm a businessman, I’m usually out most of the time so I couldn’t do the gardening myself anyway, and I don’t feel like hiring a gardener.”

If the choice came down to it, U Ko Ko Aung said he would rather spend his money on running a generator than pay someone to look after a garden.

The aversion to gardens has changed the market landscape, with the turnover of homes with larger sections suffering a disproportionate fall in demand this year, real estate agents said.

“The change in customers’ mindsets surprises us,” said U Than Htike Oo of GMG Real Estate Agency based in Sanchaung township.

“When we show houses like that (with gardens) to potential buyers, they say they’re not interested in it.

“We can't even persuade them to have a look. It seems like people are no longer interested in having green surroundings like they used to be,” he said.

“Now the market for homes with gardens is cool – though prices aren’t down.”
Difficulty reselling properties with gardens is also putting off people who would ordinarily prefer the outdoor living they offer.

U Than Oo, a car dealer in his late 40s, said he liked the idea of having a garden because it was a good family space, but feared it would be difficult to sell again in the future.

“I have two children and I want to bring them up in a quiet neighbourhood. But from my point of view, quality garden homes are very expensive and the type of house within my reach is not very good quality.

“The other thing is reselling the house; it takes a long time to find a buyer,” he said.

Ma Tharaphu, a real estate agent with the Moe Myint Thaw Tar company, said there was a gulf in terms of the quality between the high and low ends of the market with little in between.

For K300 million and upwards, buyers have the option of large, luxurious homes, often with purpose-built gym rooms and swimming pools. The market then falls away to houses far away from downtown which can be bought for around K30 million.

Ma Tharaphu said there were still good homes with gardens in Sware Taw Ein Yar and 7 Miles Ein Yar in Mayangone township, but the materials used in a house’s construction played a large part in the property’s likelihood of selling quickly.

“Even though the overall market situation is cool, if the materials used in houses are good buyers are interested,” she said. “But most of the materials used in (older) houses with gardens tended to be cheap.”

Developers are responding to the change in sentiment by focusing on more urban areas where space is at a premium and amenities better.

“Now I only build in the downtown areas where electricity isn’t so bad,” one developer told The Myanmar Times on condition of anonymity.

“I think it will take both time and effort to draw back buyers’ attention” to affordable suburban homes with gardens, he said.