For years, international companies wanting to set up in Myanmar were stifled by Western sanctions or rebuffed by the country's military government.

多年来，希望在缅甸设立公司的国际企业要么受到西方制裁的阻拦，要么被该国军政府拒之门外。

Now, as the country opens up, global corporations are finding a new hurdle: real-estate prices.

现在，随着缅甸日益开放，全球企业又面临一个新的绊脚石――房地产价格。

Top-quality office space in prime locations in Yangon, the commercial capital of the poorest country in Southeast Asia, is now the most expensive in the region at $78 a square meter ($7.33 a square foot) per month, according to research from real-estate firm Colliers International. By comparison, office rentals in a booming market like Jakarta are $24 a square meter. Even in Manhattan, the average asking rent is lower, at $49.95.

房地产公司高力国际(Colliers International)的一份研究报告显示，在这个东南亚最穷国家的商业中心仰光，黄金地段的顶级品质写字楼的月租金已达到每平方米78美元，是东南亚租金最高的城市。相比之下，雅加达等繁荣市场的写字楼租金为每平方米24美元。即便在曼哈顿，写字楼的平均租金要价也相对较低，为每平方米49.95美元。

Serviced apartments and condominiums remain in short supply, pushing up costs for new expatriates and businesses, with additional units still a few years away. A client of Myanmar Deals Leasing recently toured three apartments before lunch, only to learn that all were taken by other interested parties by the end of that same day, according to the real-estate firm, which specializes in high-grade properties for businesses and diplomats.

酒店式公寓和共管公寓供应依然短缺，进而推高了新进外派人员和企业的成本，而在建公寓还需要几年时间才能建成。据房地产公司Myanmar Deals Leasing称，该公司的一个客户最近在午餐前看了三套公寓，但这三套公寓都在他看房同一天结束前被其他有兴趣的人签下了。Myanmar Deals Leasing专门从事针对企业和外交人员的高级物业交易。

Peter Witton, an expatriate in Yangon who works as a director at investment and advisory firm Anthem Asia, has spent recent days searching for a new apartment. He says one- or two-bedroom flats in poorly built buildings that include business space and, in some cases, schools are going for about $1,800 a month, three times what they would have cost a year ago.

外派到仰光的威顿(Peter Witton)近几天来一直在寻找一个新公寓。他说，包括商用空间（有时还包括学校）在内的简陋楼房中有一个或者两个卧室的公寓租金大概在每月1,800美元左右，是一年前的三倍。威顿在投资及顾问公司Anthem Asia担任主管。

'It is a bit depressing when you start looking around and seeing what's available,' Mr. Witton says.

威顿说，当你开始到处找房，看到目前的情形你会有点沮丧。

And the worst isn't over, property analysts say.

地产分析师说，最糟糕的时期尚未过去。

'We expect prices to go up even more, as foreign direct investment goes up and the investment climate improves,' says Tony Picon, managing director at Colliers International in Myanmar.

缅甸高力国际的董事总经理皮孔(Tony Picon)说，随着海外直接投资增加以及投资环境改善，我们预计价格还会进一步上涨。

With decent living and working spaces in such short supply, some of these professionals are less inclined to move their families to the market, a stumbling block for companies working on large-scale infrastructure or other projects.

由于高品质公寓和写字楼供应非常短缺，一些专业人士举家迁至这里的意愿下降，这对从事大规模基建等项目的企业来说是一个障碍。

Even for some companies operating in sectors that are slated to expand significantly in coming years--Myanmar boasts the fastest-growing tourism market in Southeast Asia--the cost of starting up remains unjustifiable.

即便对一些从事未来几年在缅甸将大幅扩张的行业的公司来说，启动成本依然是不合理的。缅甸拥有东南亚发展最快的旅游市常

Small luxury hotels aren't feasible at the moment because the property prices are too high, says Paul Kerr, chief executive of the U.K.-based hotel brand Small Luxury Hotels of the World, a group that includes about 520 hotels in more than 80 countries. '[Land owners] are dreaming about the amount they can make,' he says.

总部设在英国的酒店品牌Small Luxury Hotels of the World的首席执行长克尔(Paul Kerr)说，目前在缅甸建小型豪华酒店是不可行的，因为房地产价格太高了，房东都梦想着大赚一笔。这家酒店集团在80多个国家拥有大约520家酒店。

Mr. Kerr's concerns are echoed by many American businesses already operating in Southeast Asia. Of the more than 470 American business leaders in the region, polled in a U.S. Chamber of Commerce survey published in August, 86% said they were dissatisfied with the high cost of rentals and apartments in the country and 79% said office rentals remain a major concern for their companies in Myanmar.

很多已经在东南亚开展业务的美国企业也有和克尔同样的担忧。美国商会(U.S. Chamber of Commerce)今年8月发布的一份调查显示，在该地区470多名受访的美国商界领导中，有86%的人说，他们对缅甸的高房租和高房价感到不满，有79%的人说，租用办公场所仍是他们公司在缅甸的一个主要担忧。

Still, not everyone is complaining. Investors are benefiting as the country's fledgling real-estate industry builds high-rises in markets where typically the tallest structures are still golden pagodas.

尽管如此，并非所有人都在抱怨。随着缅甸刚刚起步的房地产行业大举建造高层建筑，投资者开始获益。在缅甸，最高的建筑通常仍是金佛塔。

Many of these investors are wealthy Myanmar citizens who have few places to park their cash in the absence of a stable banking system, stock exchange or bond market. Increasingly, they are turning to real estate, pushing up land prices and thus rentals for foreign companies and expatriates. Foreigners are unable to buy land directly in Myanmar so they are limited to developing it through a joint-venture partnership with a Burmese developer.

其中很多投资者是富有的缅甸人，由于缅甸缺乏稳定的银行系统、股市或债市，这些富人几乎没有什么可以投资的地方。他们越来越多地转向房地产，这推高了地价，也进而推高了外国公司和外派人员的房租。外国企业在缅甸不能直接买地，所以他们只能通过与缅甸开发商组建的合资企业进行房地产开发。

'There's going to be a shortage of supply for many years to come,' says Andrew Rickards, chief executive officer of Yoma Strategic Holdings Z59.SG +1.91% .

佑玛战略控股有限公司(Yoma Strategic Holdings)首席执行长里卡兹(Andrew Rickards)说，未来很多年都会有供应不足的问题。

Mr. Rickards says that Yoma--a Singapore-listed investment firm with interests including real estate, construction and agriculture--is part of Myanmar businessman Serge Pun's empire. Yoma stock is trading at more than 80 times future earnings, and has doubled since the same period last year.

里卡兹说，佑玛是缅甸商人Serge Pun打造的帝国的一部分。该公司股票预期市盈率超过80倍，股价较去年同期上涨了一倍。该公司是一家在新加坡上市的投资公司，投资的领域包括房地产、建筑和农业。

Yoma and other Myanmar firms are betting that growth will be fueled by the foreign companies that have taken a long-term view of the potentially lucrative market of 60 million. These include U.S. firms General Electric Co. GE +1.28% and Coca-Cola Co., KO -0.18% telecommunication operators like Norway's Telenor TEL.OS +1.91% ASA and Qatar's Ooredoo, ORDS.DO +1.72% and London-based bank Standard Chartered STAN.LN -1.09% PLC, all of which have established operations in Myanmar over the past year.

佑玛等缅甸公司认为，缅甸的经济增长将受到对缅甸持长期战略的外国公司的推动。缅甸这个市场有6,000万人口，赚钱的潜力很大。这些公司包括美国公司通用电气(General Electric Co.)、可口可乐(Coca-Cola Co.)、挪威的Telenor TEL和卡塔尔的Ooredoo等电信运营商，以及伦敦的渣打银行(Standard Chartered)。这些公司过去一年都在缅甸建立了业务。

In the U.S. Chamber of Commerce survey, 49% of American businesses in Southeast Asia say they plan to expand in Myanmar, despite complaints about high costs and other infrastructure hurdles. Frits van Paasschen, chief executive officer of Starwood Hotels & Resorts HOT -0.03% --whose hotel brands include St. Regis, W and the Westin--says the company was planning to establish a presence in Myanmar.

在美国商会的调查中，有49%在东南亚开展业务的美国企业说，他们计划在缅甸扩大业务，尽管对高成本和其他基础设施方面的障碍感到不满。喜达屋(Starwood Hotels & Resorts)首席执行长陈盛福(Frits van Paasschen)说，该公司正计划在缅甸开展业务。喜达屋旗下的酒店品牌包括瑞吉(St. Regis)、W酒店和威斯汀(Westin)等。

'Rising land prices and a construction infrastructure that is still in its early stages would make building a world-class hotel a challenge, but will make the prize that much greater when the hotel is open,' he says.

他说，不断上涨的地价以及仍处于初级阶段的建筑业基础设施将使建造世界级酒店成为一项挑战，但酒店开业后回报也会更高。

Yoma hopes to address the supply issues with new mega-developments, including the 10 million-square-foot Star City residential project in Thanlyin, northeast of downtown Yangon. Aimed at middle-class city residents, the development, slated for completion in early 2016, will be linked to downtown Yangon by ferry, and by road to the Japanese-led Thilawa special economic zone.

佑玛希望用新的大型开发项目解决供应不足的问题，包括位于仰光市区东北的丁茵(Thanlyin)的一个面积1,000万平方英尺（约合90万平方米）的Star City住宅项目。该项目针对的是中产阶级城市居民，计划将于2016年初竣工。该项目将通过渡船与仰光市区相连，通过公路与日本人牵头建设的迪拉瓦(Thilawa)特别经济区相连。