Chinese buyers’ interest in Malaysian property reaches decade high

Malaysia has never been this popular with Chinese property buyers in the past decade, according to Kashif Ansari, co-founder and group chief executive of Juwai IQI.

The company’s inquiry data placed Malaysia fourth among destinations sought by Chinese buyers in the first half of 2026. It ranked sixth in 2025 and seventh from 2022 to 2024. Malaysia trailed Thailand, Australia and the United Kingdom, but moved ahead of the United States and Greece.

Malaysia accounted for 7.3% of all overseas property purchase inquiries from Chinese nationals during the period. That compares with 4.5% in 2025 and 2.8% in 2024. National Property Information Centre data also pointed to stronger interest in high-value homes. In the first quarter, properties priced at RM1 million or more were the only segment to record year-on-year transaction growth, rising 1.8%.

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Never before in this decade has Malaysia been so popular among buyers from China.

Those homes represented 9.2% of all transactions, compared with 7.9% in 2024 and 8.3% in 2025. Chinese buyers were also the most active foreign purchasers in the first half of 2025, investing RM835 million in Malaysian residential property and accounting for about 51% of foreign investment in the sector. Annualized, that figure would exceed RM1.6 billion.

Ansari said the latest buying pattern focuses increasingly on education and lifestyle rather than offshore investment alone. Some parents are considering moving with their children because of intense competition in China’s education system. They are interested in expatriate hubs such as Mont Kiara, Desa ParkCity and Penang, which offer international schools.

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Chinese buyers accounted for about 51 percent of total property investment by foreign nationals.