When Will Property Buying Stop? When It’s Unaffordable, Right?

When Will Property Buying Stop? When It’s Unaffordable, Right?

When will people stop buying properties?

When property prices become too expensive?

When nobody can afford them?

Sounds logical, right?

But I don’t think it is quite that simple.

I wrote about this before, and I think it is worth revisiting because the Malaysian property market has changed quite a bit.

The interesting question is not really:

“When will property become unaffordable?”

The better question is:

“Unaffordable to whom?”

Because a property that is unaffordable to me may still be affordable to someone else.

And a property that I cannot afford today may become affordable to me five years from now.

That is where things become interesting.

WHAT does “unaffordable” actually mean?

For a normal person, the definition is actually very simple. If my income cannot support the purchase of a particular property, that property is unaffordable to me. But that does not mean all properties are unaffordable.

If a RM1 million landed house is beyond my budget, maybe I buy a RM600,000 house. If RM600,000 is too much, perhaps I look at RM400,000. If RM400,000 is still too much, maybe I buy an apartment.

Or a smaller unit.

Or I move further away from the city centre.

Or I buy in another town.

Or perhaps I rent for a few more years while building up my savings.

This is something I appreciate about Malaysia. We still have choices. I may not be able to buy where I WANT to buy. But I may still be able to buy somewhere. And that is a very different situation from saying:

“Nobody can afford property anymore.”

MALAYSIA is still changing

Let’s look at the numbers.

According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the median Malaysian household income reached RM7,017 per month in 2024, up 5.1% from the previous year. That is household income, not individual salary. And this distinction is important.

A young single person looking at property affordability has a very different financial situation from a married couple where both are working.

This is one reason why the same property can look completely unaffordable to one person and reasonably affordable to another.

At the same time, property prices have not been increasing at the kind of speed that some people imagine.

The latest NAPIC Malaysian House Price Index data available shows that in Q2 2025, the national house price index rose just 0.7% year-on-year, compared with 4.1% a year earlier. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the index actually fell 1.7%.

So yes, properties are expensive.

But “expensive” and “prices will continue increasing rapidly forever” are two different statements.

Property prices versus household income

Indicator	Latest figure
Malaysia median household income, 2024	RM7,017/month
Malaysia mean household income, 2024	RM9,155/month
House Price Index growth, Q2 2025	+0.7% y-o-y
House Price Index quarterly change, Q2 2025	-1.7%

*Sources: DOSM and NAPIC. *

This is why I think we need to be careful when we say:

“Property prices are going up, therefore one day nobody will be able to buy.”

Maybe.

But not necessarily.

SO what happens when properties really become unaffordable?

Something has to give.

There are only a few possibilities.

1. Buyers buy smaller properties

This is probably the easiest adjustment.

A family that previously wanted a 1,500 sq ft condominium may settle for 1,000 sq ft.

A buyer looking for a landed house may consider a high-rise.

Someone looking for a new property may consider a subsale.

Basically:

We adjust what we want to what we can afford.

I have done this kind of thinking myself.

Property investment is not about finding the perfect property.

It is about finding a property that makes sense at the price you can afford.

2. Buyers move further away

This is another very normal response.

If property near the city becomes too expensive, people move further out.

Perhaps 20km.

Perhaps 40km.

Perhaps 65km.

And I actually think this could become even more relevant for my children.

Imagine a future where working from home, hybrid working and better connectivity become even more normal.

Would my children really need to live 5km from the city centre?

Maybe not.

If they can work from home three days a week, perhaps living 50km or 65km away is perfectly acceptable.

In return, they get a bigger house at a lower price.

That is another way affordability adjusts.

3. People earn more

This sounds obvious, but we sometimes forget it.

Property prices are not the only thing that changes.

Our income changes too.

When I started working, my salary was obviously much lower than it is today.

The same is true for many people.

A property that looked impossible when we were 25 may look very different when we are 35.

Of course, there is no guarantee that salaries will increase faster than property prices.

That is precisely why affordability remains a real issue.

But we should not look at property prices in isolation.

Income matters.

Financing costs matter.

Household income matters.

Location matters.

Property size matters.

And lifestyle choices matter.

4. Developers eventually have to respond

This is where the market mechanism becomes interesting.

If buyers cannot afford what developers are building, what happens?

The developers have a problem.

They can build more expensive properties and wait.

Or they can adjust.

Smaller units.

Lower-priced properties.

Different locations.

Different product types.

The latest Malaysian data shows that this mismatch is already happening.

In June 2026, the Government told Parliament that Malaysia had RM16.37 billion worth of unsold homes, with more than 53% of the unsold units in the higher-price category. The issue was described as a mismatch between supply, location, income levels and buyer readiness.

That is very interesting.

If property were simply “always unaffordable because Malaysians have no money”, why are developers still struggling with unsold properties?

Because affordability is not just about whether Malaysians have money.

It is also about whether the right property is available at the right price in the right location.

5. And eventually, prices can adjust

This is the part that I think is sometimes forgotten. If nobody can buy a particular property at RM1 million, the seller has choices.

Wait.

Rent it out.

Reduce the price.

Or find another buyer who can afford it.

But if enough sellers need to sell and buyers are not willing or able to pay RM1 million, eventually something has to change. The market clears. That does not necessarily mean property prices collapse. It could simply mean prices stop increasing.

Or they increase much more slowly.

Or sellers accept smaller profits.

Or developers offer incentives.

Or buyers move into different property segments.

This is why I don’t believe property prices can simply rise forever without any relationship to affordability. At some point, affordability matters.

BUT are Malaysian properties really becoming totally unaffordable?

This is where I would say:

Some are. Not all.

If you want to buy a landed house in a prime Kuala Lumpur neighbourhood, yes, it can be extremely expensive.

If you want a luxury condominium in a highly sought-after location, yes.

If you want a large house close to a major employment centre, yes.

But Malaysia is a big country. There are still properties in smaller towns. There are apartments. There are older properties. There are subsale properties. There are properties further away from city centres.

There are different neighbourhoods.

There are different property types.

And this is precisely why I don’t like saying:

“Malaysian property is unaffordable.”

It is more accurate to say:

“Some Malaysian properties are unaffordable to some Malaysians.”

That is a very different statement.

WHAT should we do as buyers?

For me, the answer is not to complain that property is expensive. The answer is to adapt. If you cannot afford RM800,000, don’t buy an RM800,000 property just because everyone says you should.

Look at RM600,000.

If RM600,000 is too much, look at RM400,000.

If the city is too expensive, look further away. If new properties are too expensive, look at subsale. If landed is too expensive, consider high-rise.

If you cannot afford today, perhaps wait and build your income and savings.

And most importantly:

Don’t overstretch just because you are afraid property prices will keep rising.

That fear has caused many people to make poor decisions.

Buying a property is not a competition.

There is no prize for buying the most expensive house you can possibly afford.

ONE day, will nobody be able to buy?

I don’t think so. Because if nobody can buy, there cannot be any transactions. If there are no transactions, sellers cannot keep increasing their prices indefinitely. Something has to adjust.

Maybe prices.

Maybe property sizes.

Maybe locations.

Maybe incomes.

Maybe financing.

Maybe government policies.

Maybe all of the above.

And we are already seeing some of these adjustments happening.

The Government has been looking at affordable housing based more closely on local household incomes, while the industry itself is also questioning whether a single national definition of “affordable” — such as RM300,000 — makes sense across every location in Malaysia. A recent REHDA Institute discussion argued that affordability should better reflect household income, local demand and actual development costs.

That makes sense to me.

A RM300,000 house may be expensive in one place and relatively affordable in another.

There is no single number that can define affordability for everyone.

SO, when should you buy?

That is the more important question.

Not:

“When will property become unaffordable?”

But:

“When is a property affordable and suitable for ME?”

If you can afford the monthly commitment comfortably…

If you have sufficient savings…

If the property suits your needs…

If the location makes sense…

If the price is reasonable…

And if you are prepared to hold it for the appropriate period…

Then perhaps it is worth considering.

If not?

Wait.

Save.

Earn more.

Look somewhere else.

There will always be another property.

I have been investing in property for many years, and one thing I have learned is that buying property is easy. Buying the right property at the right price is not.

So don’t panic.

Don’t rush.

Don’t believe that every property will double.

And don’t believe that property will become completely unaffordable tomorrow. Malaysia still has many choices. We just need to be flexible enough to look beyond the property we initially wanted. Maybe the house we want is unaffordable. Maybe another one isn’t.

Maybe the location we want is too expensive.

Maybe another location works.

Maybe today we cannot afford it.

Maybe five years from now we can.

That’s how markets work.

And that’s how life works too.

Happy understanding property.

Happy finding the property that you can actually afford.

And, as always, make your own decision yeah.

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Sources

• Department of Statistics Malaysia — Household Income Survey Report 2024 — Malaysia’s median household income reached RM7,017 in 2024.
• NAPIC — Malaysian House Price Index Q2 2025 — official house-price index data and average prices by state and property type.
• The Star — “Supply-demand mismatch and weak data adding to unsold homes” — June 2026 report on RM16.37 billion of unsold homes and the mismatch between supply, location, income and buyer readiness.
• The Star — “Govt takes three key measures to ensure access to affordable homes” — government measures relating to affordable housing and income-based price mapping.
• Malay Mail — “Rehda Institute: One-size-fits-all RM300,000 housing cap needs rethink” — recent discussion on why housing affordability should reflect local incomes, demand and development costs.
• Kopiandproperty.com — Original article: “When will property buying stops? When it’s unaffordable, right?” — Charles Tan’s original 2025 article and the basis for this refreshed version.