A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON SOCIAL HOUSING NEEDS AMONG M40 EARNERS IN MALAYSIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v24i41.1983Keywords:
M40 earners, social housing concept, criteria, housing need, housing affordabilityAbstract
Housing affordability is a major concern in both the developed and developing nations. In Malaysia, middle income families (M40 earners) are gradually experiencing issues of affordable and quality housing especially in the urban regions. Although government programs like rent and income-related subsidies have been put in place, the issue of affordability in housing is still significant. Recognising this issue, the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (2021–2025) highlights the need to improve housing provision for the M40 earners. This study aims to identify suitable criteria for the equitable allocation of social housing for M40 earners in Malaysia. The study examined definitions, criteria, and practices of the available housing programs to conceptualise the social housing, and a questionnaire survey was conducted among the M40 earners in Johor Bahru to investigate their housing preferences and the level of their affordability. The results propose key criteria in social housing development that will be in a better position to accommodate housing needs of M40 earners. These findings may assist policymakers in improving housing policies and strengthening existing housing legislation in Malaysia.
Downloads
References
Aishah, W., Zairul, M., Kozlowski, M., & Shukor, S. F. A. (2023). Social housing and psychological issues discussed in literature: A thematic review. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 13(8), 1301–1317. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v13-i8/18224
Aziz, W. N. A. W. A., & Singaravello, N. R. H. D. K. a/l. (2011). Affordable housing within the middle-income households in Malaysia: Challenge to enter homeownership in. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 5(8), 258–267.
Azmi, N., & Bujang, A. A. (2021). The gap between housing affordability and affordable house: A challenge for policy makers. Planning Malaysia, 19(17). https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v19i17.1016
Babbie, E. R. (2014). The basics of social research (6th ed.). Wadsworth, USA: Cengage Learning.
Beretić, N., & Talu, V. (2020). Social housing as an experimental approach to the sustainable regeneration of historic city centers: An ongoing study of Sassari City, Italy. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114579
Bernama. (2022, February 22). Bank Negara says housing supply and demand mismatch needs to be addressed. The Star.Banking. https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2022/02/11/bank-negara-says-housing-supply-and-demand-mismatch-needs-tobe-addressed#.YgYVGMcMvKk.facebook
Bilal, M., Meera, A. K. M., & Abdul Razak, D. (2019). Issues and challenges in contemporary affordable public housing schemes in Malaysia: Developing an alternative model. International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, 12(6), 1004–1027. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHMA-11-2018-0091
Braga, M., & Palvarini, P. (2013). Social housing in the EU. Brussels: European Parliament, Directorate General for Internal Policies.
Canelas, P., & Alves, S. (2024). The governance of affordable housing through public-private partnerships: Critical entanglements. Land Use Policy, 143, 107193.
Cardenete, M. A., Guerra, A.-I., & Sancho, F. (2017). Applied general equilibrium: An introduction (2nd ed.). Springer.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE.
Das, P. A. M. (2020). The effect of macroeconomic factors, ageing population and government housing policies on residential housing prices in Malaysia.
Del Pero, A. S., Adema, W., Ferraro, V., & Frey, V. (2016). Policies to promote access to good-quality affordable housing in OECD countries (OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 176). OECD Publishing: Paris, France.
Department of Statistics Malaysia, & Ministry of Economy. (2024). Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia Department of Statistics Malaysia, 70. Retrieved from www.dosm.gov.my
Dipasquale, D., & Wheaton, W. C. (1996). Urban economics and real estate markets. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Gan, Q., & Hill, R. J. (2009). Measuring housing affordability: Looking beyond the median. Journal of Housing Economics, 18(2), 115–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhe.2009.04.003
George, D., & Mallery, P. (2003). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference, 11.0 update. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Hansson, A. G., & Lundgren, B. (2019). Defining social housing: A discussion on the suitable criteria. Housing, Theory and Society, 6096, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2018.1459826
Hassan, M. M., Ahmad, N., & Hashim, A. (2021). A review on housing affordability in Malaysia: Are we doing fine? Malaysian Journal of Consumer and Family Economics, 26. 2021.
Hassanudint, M. (2021). Housing prices and affordability in Malaysia. Sunway University Press. Retrieved from https://press.sunway.edu.my/blog/housing-prices-and-affordability-malaysia https://www.thebalancesmb.com/real-estate-supply-and-demand-2866979
Ismail, A., Mamat @ Ghazali, S. N. A., & Anthony Jiram, W. R. (2023). Housing affordability stress among the middle-income (M40) group in Johor Bahru. Planning Malaysia, 21(27). https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v21i27.1296
Khazanah Research Institute. (2019). Rethinking housing: Between state, market and society: A special report for the formulation of the National Housing Policy (2018–2025), Malaysia. Khazanah Research Institute, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. April 2019, ISBN: 978-967-16335-8-8.
Khazanah Research Institute. (2025). Making housing affordable. Kuala Lumpur: Khazanah Research Institute.
Liu, J., & Ong, H. Y. (2021). Can Malaysia’s National Affordable Housing Policy guarantee housing affordability of low-income households? Sustainability, 13, 8841. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168841
Masram, & Misnan. (2019). Evolution of policy for affordable housing programmes in Malaysia. International Journal of Accounting, Finance and Business, 4(17), 86–98.
Mohd Daud, M. A., Rosly, S. A., & Muhamad Sori, Z. (2022). Understanding issues of affordable housing in Malaysia to attract investment. Planning Malaysia, 20(20). https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v20i20.1074
Mohit, M. A., & Al-Khanbashi Raja, A. M. M. (2014). Residential satisfaction - concept, theories and empirical studies. Planning Malaysia, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v12i3.131
Ong, T. S. (2013). Factors affecting the price of housing in Malaysia. Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking, 1(5), 414–429.
Sisson, A., & Rogers, D. (2020). Housing, 5, 196–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102295-5.10269-0
Stanojev, M. L., & Stojić, D. (2015). Reliability analysis of structures. Facta Universitatis, Series: Architecture and Civil Engineering, 265–272.
Whitehead, C. M. E., & Scanlon, K. (2007). Social housing in Europe. In C. M. E. Whitehead & K. Scanlon (Eds.), Social housing in Europe (pp. 8–33). London School of Economics and Political Science.
Willis, C. M. A., & Mohsin, A. B. (2025). Affordable housing schemes in Malaysia: A review of systematic gaps. International Journal of Real Estate Studies, 19(2), 12–22.
Wong. (2019). Social housing mooted for 12th Malaysian Plan. Property. https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/08/02/social-housing-mooted-for-12th-malaysia-plan
Wu, M. J., Zhao, K., & Fils-Aime, F. (2022). Response rates of online surveys in published research: A meta-analysis. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 7(April), 100206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2022.100206
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright & Creative Commons Licence
eISSN: 0128-0945 © Year. The Authors. Published for Malaysian Institute of Planners. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.
The authors hold the copyright without restrictions and also retain publishing rights without restrictions.
