SHAH ALAM, June 29 — Close to half of unsold residential properties in Malaysia are affordable homes priced below RM300,000, according to data from the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC), the Dewan Rakyat heard today.
Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Aiman Athirah Sabu said in the first quarter of 2026, 32,800 completed residential units remained unsold nationwide, with a total value of RM16.37 billion.
“Of the total, 15,400 units, or 46.9 per cent, are homes priced at RM300,000 and below. This means the remaining 53.1 per cent are homes priced above RM300,000.
“This shows that unsold homes do not only involve affordable housing, but are also influenced by the mismatch between housing supply and demand across various segments of the housing market,” she said during the question and answer session.
She was responding to Puncak Borneo MP Datuk Willie Mongin, who wanted to know the number of unsold affordable homes as well as home ownership among youths aged 35 and below, broken down by state and parliamentary constituency.
Aiman Athirah, however, said the government does not have statistics categorised by age.
“The specific data requested is not available at this time because home ownership statistics published by the Statistics Department (DOSM) are organised by income group and locality, not by age or parliamentary constituency.”
She added that available data for 2024 showed that the home ownership rate among lower-income households earning below RM5,860 a month stood at 76.3 per cent.
Acknowledging the challenges faced by youths and first-time homebuyers, Aiman Athirah said her ministry is developing a national integrated housing data repository under the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP) to support more effective, data-driven housing policies.
On concerns over rising construction costs, she said affordable housing prices cannot be determined by this factor alone, but must balance people’s ability to purchase homes with the sustainability of housing development.
She said the ministry has also implemented affordable housing mapping using median household income by state and district to determine price ranges according to local affordability levels.
“The government continues to assist first-time and young homebuyers through initiatives such as the Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme (SJKP) and the Step-Up Financing Scheme.”
Responding to a supplementary question by Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman on low home ownership among young Malaysians, Aiman Athirah said 75.7 per cent of housing financing approvals under the SJKP have been granted to applicants aged 35 and below.
“The government is giving priority to helping young people own their first homes. We remain committed to ensuring that no one is left behind.” – Media Selangor
