The economic crisis hit the
construction sector hardest. Work on 396 buildings came to a halt, and 29,700
families who had paid for apartments were left to wait, with no return on their
investment. Some construction was resumed last year and 2,432 apartments in 45
buildings were offered for possession. This year, 52 buildings have so far been
finished and 3,658 families have moved in to new apartments.

However, 1,080 of them are war
veterans and more than 2,000 Government employees. Less than one sixth of the new
owners bought apartments with their own money. Many received money from
relatives working abroad. When will Mongolians really earn enough to buy
apartments for themselves from their own salary?

A survey shows that 41.79
percent of ger district residents want to buy apartments within 10 years. This
shows how large the demand for new apartments but it also shows how restricted
the supply is.

The survey also revealed 83.3
percent of the respondents want to live in apartments with their family, 9.3
percent are newly wed, 4.2 percent want to rent out the apartments, and 2.3
percent want to live alone. Half of thosee surveyed want two-room apartments
while 34.4 percent want three-room ones. However, most of the apartments
actually sold are one-room ones, which means people end up buying what they can
afford, not what they want. An overwhelming majority said they would find it
impossible to pay more than USD700 per sq.m. Five percent, however, were
willing to go up to USD1,000 per sq.m or more.

Construction companies usually
charge MNT1 million per sq.m but it is believed they would make 10-15 percent
profit even at MNT650,00-MNT750,000. We asked people who live abroad about
prices in cities where they live.

A visitor from Tokyo said an
apartment here costs the same as a three-story building with elevator in Japan.
Prices of common goods in UB are also very high. Beef, some expensive fish and jewelry
are considered expensive in Japan but other things are cheaper than in Mongolia.

A visitor from Washington
says the USA is a much cheaper place to live in. Food in particular is much cheaper.
A single-unit house with three bedrooms and three bathrooms would cost USD200,000,
but even at that price the workmanship and quality of construction will be much
better than what one gets here?