Malaysian housing market exhibits positive recovery trend

Malaysia’s housing market is recovering with more properties being bought and sold last year, said Housing and Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming.

“Since the Madani government took over, our overhang properties dropped from 37,066 units to 24,000 units, which indicates a significant improvement of more than 40 per cent,” Nga said, reported Bernama. 

Nga also said that Malaysia is now an expatriate magnet, with the number of work permits issued by the Immigration Department to high-skilled expats increasing more than 50 per cent, from 110,819 in 2022 to 154,115 in 2023.

“This is a strong indication that the influx of foreign direct investments has created more high-skilled job opportunities.

“In 2024, we expect a steady performance in our property market and it will help boost our gross domestic product.

“Many stocks in the property sectors have experienced good appreciation. Some property counters have seen an appreciation of more than 600 per cent in the last 12 months,” Nga said. 

In 2023, Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah highlighted a decline in the number of unsold residential properties, dropping from 28,000 units valued at RM18.41 billion in 2022 to 26,000 units valued at RM17.7 billion.