Malaysia a favourite among Chinese property buyers in 2019

PETALING JAYA (May 14): Malaysia is the sixth most-preferred destination for property buyers from China in 2019, the second year running that the country has been ranked so by Juwai IQI.

Juwai IQI is the holding company that runs IQI, a real estate network, and Juwai.com, a Chinese marketplace for overseas properties. 

Based on its data of buying enquiries made by Chinese property buyers in more than 90 countries, it was found that the top five destinations for them in 2019 were Thailand, Australia, Japan, the US, and Canada followed by Malaysia. The UK, Vietnam, the UAE, Vietnam and the Philippines were ranked seventh to 10th while Singapore ranked 11th.

Malaysia has long been a favourite investment choice for Chinse buyers, Kuala Lumpur-based Executive Chairman of Juwai IQI Georg Chmiel in a statement today.

“It is especially appealing to buyers motivated by lifestyle, retirement, or education. It has affordable standards of living, high quality of life, medical facilities, and accessible educational institutions.

"Malaysia consistently ranks among the best places to live. The attractive terms of the Malaysia My Second Home Scheme (MM2H) also make the country a truly attractive destination,” he said.

He added that property in Malaysia is affordable and attractive compared to other nations in Asia and beyond. “Cross border property buying by Chinese consumers is evolving rapidly as these buyers gain in wealth, motivation and sophistication. They are also looking for asset diversification.

“For the same amount of money, they are able to get a larger sized property in Malaysia compared to purchasing in China or Hong Kong. They may also be moving to Malaysia, for example to retire or for work, or they may just use it as a second home.

“Malaysia offers several advantages. The benefits include relatively low property prices, available financing for up to 80 per cent or 85 per cent of the total home price, sophisticated leasing and property management services, the right to freehold ownership, and a developed legal system that protects buyers from exploitation,” he explained.

It was also found that Chinese buyers made 40.2% more inquiries on residential properties in Malaysia in 2019 than in 2018.

As the country’s capital of social and economic affairs, Kuala Lumpur receives the lion’s share of attention from Chinese buyers followed by Johor Bahru, Malacca City, Kota Kinabalu and Shah Alam.

“Programmes such as the MM2H have made Malaysia a popular investment and retirement destination. It has also been popular with Chinese citizens, who accounted for 30% of the more than 42,000 applications approved between 2012 and 2018.

“While the current Covid-19 situation and travel bans have made things difficult for some MM2H holders, we believe people recognize this is an extraordinary situation and will be patient. Given time, things will return to normal here in Malaysia. We expect a surge of transactions that have been held up when that happens,” said Chmiel.

Table: Top 10 Countries for Chinese buyers

Source: Juwai IQ Data 2019

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