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What a Malaysian property actually yields

A home in Sabah returns about 6% a year in rent against what buyers there actually paid. In Kuala Lumpur the same calculation gives 3.5%. The gap is not that Kuala Lumpur rents badly — it is that buying there costs 63% more while the rent does not follow.

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Highest yield6%Sabah
Lowest yield3.5%Kuala Lumpur
Homes advertised55,736
States compared12

Why this number is not the one you have seen elsewhere

A yield is rent over price, and everyone publishing one in Malaysia takes both sides from the same listings — an asking rent divided by an asking price, describing a transaction nobody made. The rents below are asking rents, because that is what a rental market is. The prices are the median of every sale registered with JPPH in that state: what buyers paid, and lodged.

Gross, not net. Gross, not net: before vacancy, maintenance, management, assessment, quit rent and financing. The rent is what landlords are asking today; the price is the median of everything registered, so the two sides are not the same moment. They are also not the same properties — what gets advertised for rent skews urban and market-rate, while the registered median includes stock that is never let, so this reads high rather than low.

Gross yield by state

Whole homes only — rooms, shop lots, offices and warehouses are excluded, because a room advertised at RM240 and a warehouse at RM108,000 are not the thing being bought. States with fewer than 200 advertised homes are left out rather than published thin.

SabahRM 2,000/moRM400k6%2,402PahangRM 1,350/moRM289k5.6%312PenangRM 1,800/moRM410k5.3%11,164SarawakRM 1,800/moRM410k5.3%1,351JohorRM 2,000/moRM485k4.9%9,535MelakaRM 1,200/moRM300k4.8%1,597PerakRM 1,000/moRM280k4.3%938KedahRM 1,000/moRM288k4.2%618Negeri SembilanRM 1,200/moRM355k4.1%1,427PutrajayaRM 2,300/moRM714k3.9%316SelangorRM 1,500/moRM495k3.6%17,634Kuala LumpurRM 1,900/moRM650k3.5%8,442

What this does not say

  • It is not a return. Vacancy, maintenance, management, assessment, quit rent and financing all come out of the rent before anything reaches you.
  • A state median mixes every property type and every district in it. A condominium in the state capital and a terrace two hours away are both in this figure.
  • Asking rents are what landlords want, not what tenants agreed. Achieved rents are lower, and there is no public register of them.
  • The two sides are different moments: rents are advertised today, the price median spans every sale on record.
  • They are also not the same properties. mudah carries what people choose to advertise, which skews urban and market-rate, while the registered median includes low-cost stock that is never let on the open market. That pushes this figure up, not down. It is why states with a thin sample are excluded: below 200 listings the number drifted to 6% and above, and matching property type on both sides made it worse rather than better.

Run your own numbers in the rental yield calculator, which takes vacancy and operating costs and reports a net figure as well as a gross one.