(From left) Rehda Institute director of research Malathi Thevendran, Rehda Malaysia national treasurer and WP(KL) branch chairperson Datuk David Lim Boon Huat, Rehda Institute trustees Datuk Haji Muztaza and Tan Sri Teo Chiang Kok, chairman Datuk Jeffrey Ng Tiong Lip, trustee Datuk Ng Seing Liong, Rehda Malaysia secretary general Datuk Tan Hon Lim and Rehda Institute chief operating officer David Chong at the preview and soft launch of Rehda Institute’s Housing for All: Co-Creating a Needs-Driven Framework research publication on Tuesday. (Photos by Shahrin Yahya/The Edge)

PETALING JAYA (July 14): Rehda Institute has proposed a needs-driven and evidence-based housing framework that calls for housing quotas and policy requirements to be regularly reviewed based on actual market demand and local housing conditions, ahead of the National Housing Policy 3.0 (2026-2035).

The institute on Tuesday previewed its latest publication, Housing for All: Co-Creating a Needs-Driven Framework, which seeks to recalibrate the country’s housing development framework to better reflect changing demographics, household incomes and market conditions.

The publication is scheduled to be officially launched on July 28, with its key findings to be presented at the Regional Housing Conference 2026 the following day.

Rehda Institute chairman Datuk Jeffrey Ng Tiong Lip said Malaysia’s housing challenges had become increasingly complex, while existing policies had not evolved sufficiently to reflect structural changes in the country.

“Past policies did help many people to own homes, but Malaysia has advanced and changed. Our population, income and lifestyles are all different today. Because of these changes, rigid and outdated housing rules no longer fit the reality on the ground,” he said at a media briefing on Tuesday.

Among the framework’s key recommendations are periodic reviews of housing quotas and policy requirements to reflect market demand, greater transparency and efficiency in Bumiputera quota release mechanisms, and a reduction in excessive cross-subsidisation within the housing development framework.

It also calls for stronger incentives to encourage affordable housing delivery, more innovative home financing options, and the integration of national housing data to support evidence-based policymaking.

Ng said Malaysia’s demographic and income composition had changed considerably. Bumiputera accounted for 70% of Malaysian citizens in 2024, up from 61% in 1991, while the largest proportion of households, at 31%, recorded gross monthly household incomes of between RM3,000 and RM4,999.

The number of households earning RM13,000 and above a month, meanwhile, tripled to 1.54 million in 2024 from 514,100 in 2014.

The study found that current housing policies had not kept pace with these changes in demographics, income distribution and housing demand, contributing to supply-demand imbalances and a growing number of unsold completed homes.

As at 1Q2026, Malaysia recorded 32,800 completed unsold homes worth RM16.37 billion, Ng said. Nearly 47%, or about 18,400 units, were priced below RM300,000.

“If we have tens of thousands of completed homes sitting empty while Malaysians cannot find affordable housing, maybe our challenge isn’t simply about building enough affordable homes. We need to ask: Are we building the right homes in the right locations, at the right price points, for the people who actually need them?” he said.

Ng said the high proportion of unsold homes priced below RM300,000 showed that price alone could not explain the mismatch in the housing market.

Location, connectivity, household needs and access to financing also had to be considered when determining housing demand, he added.

“Homes located further from the city may have lower purchase prices, but truly affordable housing goes beyond the price sticker alone. It must include the cost of living and lifestyle in that location,” he said.

The proposed framework also calls for greater integration of housing and socio-economic data held across government agencies and national platforms. Ng said while Malaysia has an abundance of data across several agencies and systems, much of the information remained fragmented. 

“What is the point of the data if it is only resting with the respective entities? What we need is to group them together and have the best people in this business analyse them,” he said. 

Ng said integrating income, housing supply, demographic and transport planning data could help policymakers formulate more targeted policies and identify potential supply-demand mismatches before thousands of homes were built.

Artificial intelligence and digital twin technology could eventually be used to forecast housing requirements, including the number and type of homes needed and where they should be located, but such tools would depend on reliable and integrated data, he said.

Meanwhile, Ng said the proposed framework was not intended to reduce support for lower-income households, but to ensure housing policies remained equitable across different income groups.

“In simple terms, if we want Malaysians of all income levels to keep owning homes, our housing policies must follow real needs and real data, not just old rules and regulations,” Ng said.