IN FOCUS: Why have Malaysia’s homes remained ‘seriously unaffordable’ for a decade and counting?
CNA
In 2024, Malaysia’s median house price was more than four times its median annual household income. To reverse this, the government, developers and financial institutions must all play their part, analysts say.
KUALA LUMPUR: In the past year or so, Nur Syarah Alya Nizamuddin stepped up the hunt for her first home, eager to settle down near her parents who live in Shah Alam, Selangor.
Having grown up there, the 27-year-old felt comfortable in the city and did not want to venture too far from her parents, as her only sibling is based abroad.
But house prices in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area, considered Malaysia’s economic hub with a high concentration of jobs, quickly dampened her spirits.
In 2025, the median house price in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor was RM560,000 (US$142,300) and RM470,000 respectively, a 7 per cent and 4.4 per cent increase from the year before, according to official data. This is a spike from the 1.6 per cent and 0.4 per cent increase in 2024.
The Malaysian federal government has defined affordable homes as having a maximum price of RM300,000.
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