YANGON -- "We used to invest in gold," said Moe Myint, a property buyer in Yangon, Myanmar's commercial capital. "But we have found that property is less vulnerable to price swings in Myanmar. So we just stay in real estate now."

With inflation and prices both rising, the investor said he is loath to sell: "If you get out, your money just shrinks." Moe Myint began putting money into land after the military seized power in February 2021, buying across the country before turning to Yangon.

So far he and a few friends have together spent almost $1 million. World Bank figures suggest Moe Myint is not exaggerating. The multilateral lender's June 2026 Myanmar Economic Monitor said property prices had risen fourfold since the takeover.

One Yangon contractor said an 84-square-meter apartment in a block without an elevator but in a prime neighborhood that he bought in the city in 2021 for 75 million kyats ($17,900 at the current unofficial rate, $30,000 at the 2021 rate) is now worth about 300 million kyats, or $850 per square meter at the current rate. In comparison, prices for standard new-build Bangkok apartments just outside the central business districts were up to 150,000 baht ($4,500 at the current exchange rate) per square meter at the end of last year, according to Thai company Condodee Realty.

And a resident of Mandalay, Myanmar's second city, said, "Ordinary people can forget about living in a house with a yard now." This boom that is reverberating through both the residential sector and market for empty plots in one of Asia's most sealed economies has been driven in large part by the nation's broader economic context.

Myanmar's economy contracted 2% in the fiscal year to the end of March 2026, according to the World Bank's June economic monitor. Import controls, scarce foreign exchange, widespread sanctions and an ongoing five-year civil war have weighed heavily on private business. Inflation, meanwhile, is estimated to be running at an average of 24% this year, the Asian Development Bank has forecast.

The military-backed government has tightened import controls to conserve foreign currency. In 2024 it required firms to show export earnings before bringing goods in. During the April-July 2026 "100-Day Progress" campaign of Min Aung Hlaing's first three months as the country's nominally civilian president, formal imports to Yangon and Mandalay almost stopped, traders said. Goods arriving by other routes were often seized.

"Obtaining an import license is nearly impossible right now," an auto parts importer told Nikkei Asia. "Goods are brought in through the border by whatever means available, so shipments end up scattered all along the border routes. We have to collect them bit by bit, like chickens pecking for feed." Money that once went into goods is going into land instead.

"There is nothing left to sell," one trader told Nikkei Asia. A plot advertised for sale in Yangon, Myanmar's commercial capital. Many sales take place by word of mouth, with no advertising at all. (Photo by Cape Diamond, retouched due to privacy concerns.) Business owners have been putting spare cash into land since 2022, agents and investors said.

"Prices from 2021 to 2026 are quite different. Through 2022 it was still flat," said Ko Jack, of Yangon's 365 Real Estate Group. "There's inflation in there too. It's been rising 40% to 60% a year. It's true that prices have gone up as much as fourfold."

"Business owners no longer want to keep their money in banks," a prominent Yangon property agent told Nikkei Asia. "Fearing that surging inflation and volatility will cause their savings to evaporate like mothballs, they are pouring capital heavily into real estate." Firms sitting on export revenues have few other ways to use the cash, this person added.

Retail savings deposits had fallen for five years through March 2025, the World Bank reported. High inflation has pushed real interest rates below zero, and households continue to hoard cash instead of deposit it at banks.

Banks and large business groups are also in the market, according to the agent, although there appears to be little evidence of money from the many scam operations that have been based in Myanmar driving up prices. Indeed, lenders that cannot offer depositors a real return are buying land themselves, the agent claimed, lifting asking prices.

After selling a large lot, buyers often put the cash straight back into smaller parcels, dealers say.

Hundreds of houses, like this one in Mandalay, were destroyed in a major earthquake in March 2025, putting more pressure on Myanmar's property market.

Inya Road runs through Kamayut, Bahan and Mayangone, townships that also house embassies and large businesses. Agents and dealers quote property on the road along Inya Lake at about $4.6 million to $4.9 million, with the conversion from kyats at the unofficial rate, for a 40-by-60-foot lot (about 220 square meters). On Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, mainly in Mayangone and toward Yankin, land is listed at $2.8 million to $3.7 million for a similar lot.

Most buyers still pay in cash, Jack said. Bank loans cover only about 30% of deals. Few plots are formally advertised -- most marketing is done by word of mouth.

Buyers and virtually all local but come from a variety of backgrounds, agents say. Some are businesspeople, others are families moving money out of banks and gold, while others hold export earnings they cannot convert into licensed imports.

Payment is rarely made by bank transfer. Cash, often dollars, usually changes hands first. Title deed formalities come later. For most of Jack's clients, property is a second or third string to their business portfolio -- many are still trading as best they can, although government restrictions are making this increasingly challenging.

Few buyers have rushed to build, or rebuild. Most purchases are held empty or rented out, although rental income is secondary. Most people are parking the money to prevent capital depreciation, people in the market said.

This is partly because inflation and scarcity have driven up construction costs . In the middle of last month a Yangon contractor said hot rolled 500-grade steel was being quoted at 4.45 million to 5.75 million kyats per metric ton. Two years earlier, the contractor paid about 1.3 million kyats per ton.

Regular power cuts also delay progress, as have new limits on the size of apartment buildings following the March 2025 earthquake that killed more than 5,300 people.

While many property buyers do not build anything on their plots because costs are rising so fast, some projects in Yangon are going ahead.

The boom has not gone unnoticed by the government, which is seeking to rein in the soaring prices.

"Wealthy individuals are increasingly turning away from manufacturing and labor-intensive industries, choosing instead to chase quick profits through real estate speculation, gold and illegal foreign currency trading," Min Aung Hlaing said in a July 31 address to parliament. He urged those with capital to put it into agriculture, livestock and manufacturing instead.

On the following day Lower House Speaker Khin Yi said Myanmar would draft a national property tax law to curb price inflation, fight corruption and raise revenue. On Aug. 20, Yangon Region Planning Minister May Than Nwe chaired a special meeting after the regional government said tax values on property sales and construction were lagging market prices. Officials discussed amending the rates to bring them closer to market values.

Reports are circulating that increasing numbers of property buyers have been questioned about where their funds originated, although the government has not confirmed this.

People in the property sector say the authorities' actions have had an impact, as has stricter collection of land transfer taxes -- generally 4% of the assessed value -- and so has the three-month Vassa period in Theravada Buddhism from July when followers sometimes practice asceticism. One Yangon agent said brokers, buyers and sellers are being summoned to Naypyitaw and pressed to pay the full transaction duties. The government has not confirmed this.

Myanmar's ongoing five-year civil war has put significant pressure on the property market, as a result of the destruction of homes and the displacement of 4 million people, according to United Nations estimates.

Jack said deals are still being done but not at the rate they were. His last condo rental closed in August.

"Asking prices have been running higher than what the market can really bear, mainly since early August," another Yangon agent said, citing the stricter collection of the property tax and new valuation rules for why the market has cooled.

Prime lots on Inya Road and Kaba Aye Pagoda Road in the heart of the city still draw bids. Side streets and undeveloped land are taking longer to sell, as some sellers pulled listings and some buyers delayed finalizing purchases. Buyers are also asking for discounts, to make up for the taxes they now have to pay.

Mandalay residents said demand there has also risen as families fleeing the civil war move into the city. The United Nations has put the number of people displaced inside Myanmar at about 4 million as of August, including about 107,000 in the Mandalay Region.

Displaced families usually rent first, out of hope that they might be able to return home, Jack said, adding that as those hopes fade they then consider buying.

Prices have also jumped in border towns, such as Myawaddy, which is close to the Thai town of Mae Sot. Ko Kaung, a resident of the town, said purchase and rental prices have both risen fourfold since 2021, driven in significant part by scam operators moving into the town. As in Yangon, most deals are struck by word of mouth. Buyers, sellers and agents are all unsure whether the authorities' measures will cool the market in the long term.

"Ordinary people can barely reach this market," said Naing Min Oo, a food and beverage importer who has been trying to buy land of his own. He has so far managed to secure only one plot -- for a warehouse. "We'll just have to wait and see whether the plan to bring prices down works." Cape Diamond is a contributing writer.