What income do you actually need, district by district?
Buying the median home in Putrajaya needs about RM 6,387 a month before tax. In Rompin the same median needs RM 1,341 — a gap of 5×. Every figure is derived from registered sold prices, and recomputes when the data does.
Ask AI about affordabilityThe assumptions, stated
The instalment is arithmetic: a 10% deposit, 4.2% over 30 years. The income figure is the contestable part, because it depends on a debt-service ratio the bank chooses. This table uses 60% of net income and assumes no other commitments — a car loan, a card balance or a PTPTN repayment raises the bar, often sharply. Gross is estimated at net ÷ 0.82, covering EPF and tax.
A median is not a listing. Half the homes registered in a district sold below these prices and half above, and the mix of property types differs between districts. Treat a row as the shape of a district, then check the actual transactions for what you would buy.
What a home costs in years of income
The median home divided by a year of median household income — the measure used to compare countries, and the one that does not depend on assuming what a bank will lend. Household income is DOSM's 2024 survey; the price is the median across every registered sale on record, so the two sides are not the same period.
Bands follow the Demographia convention: under 3 affordable, 3 to 4 moderately unaffordable, 4 to 5.1 seriously unaffordable, above that severely unaffordable. A state median mixes every property type, so read it as the shape of a state rather than as the price of a home in it.
Income needed, by district
Ranked by the gross monthly income the median home demands. Districts with fewer than 200 registered sales are excluded, because a median over a handful of sales describes those sales rather than the district.
Years of local income divides the district median by a year of that district's own median household income, from DOSM's survey — so unlike the income column beside it, it assumes nothing about what a bank will lend. A district DOSM does not survey shows an em dash rather than borrowing a figure from elsewhere.
What this does not say
- It is not a bank decision. Lenders assess income, existing debt and employment differently, and two banks will not agree on the same file.
- The rate is today's assumption, not a forecast. A one-point move changes the instalment by roughly 12% over a 30-year tenure.
- Upfront cash excludes renovation, furnishing and the moving costs that follow. It covers the deposit plus the usual legal, duty and stamping charges.
- First-home relief can remove much of the duty below RM500,000, which the fees calculator handles properly.
Run your own numbers in the affordability calculator, which lets you set your real income, commitments and DSR rather than these defaults.