Only 16% of the new homes launched in Johor in 2024 were priced below RM300,000, the national affordable-housing line. At the other end, homes at RM600,000 and above made up 63% of the state's new supply, yet only 13.5% of Johor households earn enough to afford them. The figures come from a Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) analysis published on 15 October 2026, Mismatches in the Malaysian Housing Market, by senior research associate Nur Fareza Mustapha.
The yardstick matters, so it is worth setting out. KRI calls a home affordable when its price is no more than three times a household's annual income, and it matches 2024 launch prices from NAPIC against the Department of Statistics' Household Income Survey 2024. Run the arithmetic and RM300,000 needs a household income of about RM8,333 a month; RM400,000 needs about RM11,111; RM600,000 needs about RM16,667. KRI's own example: a RM200,000 house is affordable to a household earning at least RM5,556 a month.
On that basis, more than 80% of Johor's 2024 launches were priced above RM400,000, a level KRI says only the 25.5% of households earning RM12,000 a month or more can carry. Two price bands alone, RM700,001 to RM800,000 and above RM1,000,000, made up 21% and 17% of the year's new supply. Only 16% of new homes were within reach of the bottom half of Johor households.
Penang and KL tell different stories
Penang's gap sits lower down the ladder. About 37% of its households earn under RM6,000 a month, but only 6% of new supply in 2024 was priced for them, and the RM100,001 to RM200,000 band had no new homes at all. Half of Penang's new launches were at RM400,000 and above, a price KRI says suits 22% of households. Put another way, 24% of new Penang supply was affordable to the bottom 55% of households, those earning under RM8,000.
Kuala Lumpur looks better matched than either state on this measure: 45% of its 2024 launches came in below RM300,000, and another 11% between RM300,001 and RM400,000. It also had the steepest top end, with 22% of launches above RM900,000. Nationally, KRI found only 9% of new market housing was affordable to the 41.3% of households earning under RM6,000 a month, while the top fifth of households, earning above RM12,000, could afford 52% of new launches.
One comparison helps place the Johor number. The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association's survey of its Peninsular members, released in September, found 53% of their 1H2026 launches priced between RM300,001 and RM500,000 (The Edge). That is a different sample and a different year, so it does not contradict KRI, but it suggests the sub-RM300,000 bracket is thin well beyond Johor.
KRI is careful about what one year of data can show: it says a longer series is needed to tell whether Johor's 2024 skew is an anomaly or a structural trend. It also argues the single national RM300,000 threshold may not be meaningful at state or local level, and calls KPKT's announced review of that threshold timely.
Sources: Khazanah Research Institute, The Edge Malaysia.
