More youths own houses

SHAH ALAM – A total of 44 per cent of house ownership in Malaysia are among the youths and those aged below 40 based on the Census of Malaysia 2020 report.

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the house ownership percentage among the youths was fairly satisfactory.

“The Census of Malaysia 2020 report shows that the number of house ownership in Malaysia is 70.8 per cent while 29.2 per cent is for another category for government or private ownerships.

“The 44 per cent refers to youths aged between 15 and 40. Usually, house purchases among youths start after they have their own career and stable financial ability at the age of 25 and above,” he told Sinar Premium.

He added that men have dominated the purchase of a private home compared to women.

“There are 56.5 per cent of men who own their own house while 43.5 per cent women own their own house.

“The percentage of ownership among young men aged between 15 and 40 is 56.5 per cent while 44.5 per cent are women,” he said.

Meanwhile, the real estate ownership trend among youths has increased compared to 10 years ago.

Previously, the Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican said 50 per cent or 17,543 buyers of the Projek Perumahan 1 Malaysia (PR1MA) nationwide comprised young people aged between 25 and 35 as of December 2021.

Real estate analyst Faizul Ridzuan said many youths have purchased houses before their 30s.

“As time passes by, we could see that younger people has already own a house compared to 10 to 20 years ago.

“The percentage of youths who are eligible to buy a house should exceed 90 per cent if they have a an income and are financially stable that the bank could approved,” he said.

Faizul said youths in the country were eligible to buy a house, but they also needed to acquire real estate knowledge so that they would not take the wrong step.

“They only need to have basic knowledge. Without the access to financial and real estate knowledge, many of them might fall into the wrong investment or fear to make a purchase.

“It is an advantage to own a house at a young age because the house prices might increase in the future.

“Hence at the young age, we could take this advantage to issue a house loan before other commitments increase. The maximum loan is 35 years, so the monthly instalment will be lower,” he said.