Malaysia received 7,650 new applications for its Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) program between October 1, 2024, and August 31, 2026. Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Chiew Choon Man released the figure in a statement on September 26.
Chiew put the economic value at RM8.85 billion (approximately US$2.17 billion). More than RM5 billion (US$1.22 billion) of that came from property purchases, and fixed deposits in Malaysian banks added RM3.82 billion (US$936 million). Applications arrived across all four MM2H categories: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Special Economic Zone/Special Financial Zone (SEZ/SFZ).
All four belong to the federal program. Sarawak and Sabah operate their own MM2H programs with separate requirements.
Half From China
Chinese nationals filed 3,847 of the applications, or 50.3% of the total. Taiwan followed with 1,054 (13.8%), ahead of Hong Kong with 324, Singapore with 287, and the US with 284.
Together, those five markets account for 5,796 applications. The remaining 1,854 came from countries the statement did not name.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing gave the same order in a parliamentary reply on participants granted MM2H status up to August 31, 2025. That count included dependents, so the two sets of figures are not directly comparable.
Market Outreach
In his statement, Chiew wrote that MM2H has “shown immense potential in expanding Malaysia’s foreign direct investment.” He issued the statement a day after the 14th MM2H National Workshop 2026, organized by the Malaysia My Second Home Consultants Association.
There, he met consultants alongside real estate, education, healthcare, and banking specialists. Responding to their feedback, Chiew said that “every concern is taken note of” and that the ministry works with other ministries and agencies “for practical solutions.”
The MM2H One Stop Centre will also run overseas sales missions to Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea, according to Chiew. Neither Japan nor South Korea appears among the five largest source markets.
Beyond Asia
Only the US, in fifth place, sits outside Asia among the top five markets. IMI asked two Singapore-based advisers whether Malaysia should court clients further afield.
Philippe May, Founder and CEO of EC Holdings, saw no point in doing so. “The majority will always be from Asia,” he said. MM2H appeals only to “those interested in physically migrating to Malaysia and spending extended time there,” May argued.
“It’s not a Plan B,” he added, noting that MM2H offers no route to permanent residence or citizenship.
Brendon Wong, Senior Private Client Advisor at Passport Legacy, made a similar point about the 90-day annual stay requirement. With that rule, MM2H “represents a significant lifestyle shift for clients from farther afield,” he said, adding that this “may well be intentional.”
MM2H “is designed to attract people who genuinely want to live in Malaysia, rather than those simply seeking a backup residency,” Wong said. In his view, regionally focused programs like MM2H “have a clear place in a client’s residency planning” alongside programs that serve other purposes.
Unlike May, Wong sees room for “targeted outreach to markets with natural affinities” without redesigning the program. He named the Middle East and North Africa as one such market, “given Malaysia’s well-established halal and Islamic finance ecosystem.”
Property Outweighs Deposits
Chiew’s figures reverse the order Tiong gave for calendar 2025, when fixed deposits of RM2.35 billion outweighed property purchases of RM1.51 billion. Because the new 23-month window contains all of 2025, the two sets overlap rather than run in sequence.
Every participant has to buy property. The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) requires that each one buy and own a residence after approval, according to its category pages.
Minimum values run from RM600,000 for Silver to RM1 million for Gold and RM2 million for Platinum. SEZ/SFZ participants must buy in Forest City, Johor.
No participant may sell that home for ten years. Failure to comply with the purchase terms leads to revocation of the pass, according to the same pages.
At the end of 2025, 744 participants had completed purchases and 2,637 were still buying, Tiong told Parliament in February. Chiew did not say how many transactions sit behind the RM5 billion or where the properties are.
MOTAC also lets participants withdraw up to half of the fixed deposit’s principal after approval. Withdrawals may go toward a home, education, medical care, or tourism in Malaysia. The statement did not say whether the RM3.82 billion counts deposits as placed or as they stood after such withdrawals.
Housing Risk
By the ministry’s count, MM2H participants bought more than RM5 billion of Malaysian property in 23 months. IMI asked both advisers whether that could make the program a political target in a future housing squeeze, as golden visas were in Spain and Portugal.
May granted that politicians “not only from the government but also from the opposition” could blame the program in theory. “But in practice, the housing market is very stable,” he said, pointing to “lots of supply.” “We are far from a spike in prices or even a bubble,” he added.
Wong did not expect trouble either, citing “several structural safeguards” already in place. Foreigners, he noted, can buy only “above each state’s minimum price threshold, commonly around RM1 million,” and every purchase “requires written approval from the state authority.”
Together, in Wong’s words, those rules keep “MM2H buyers largely out of the segments where affordability pressure is felt.” The ten-year holding period also “discourages speculators,” he said.
Malaysia’s housing problem, Wong argued, “lies mainly in the affordable segment, around RM200,000 to RM300,000, which MM2H buyers cannot access at all.” He described it as “less a lack of supply than a mismatch between what is built and what local buyers need and can afford.”
Developers selling to MM2H buyers, he suggested, “could be required or incentivized to channel part of their profits into affordable housing.” That way, in his view, MM2H “would directly support the segment where the need is greatest.”
Approvals Undisclosed
No approval figure for the period appeared in the statement, which counted applications only. Nor did Chiew break the 7,650 down by category.
For comparison, Malaysia approved 3,172 applications in 2025, covering 9,038 participants, including dependents. Silver accounted for 2,650 of them, followed by SEZ/SFZ with 322, Gold with 154, and Platinum with 46.
Compliance Checks
Four days before the statement, Tiong asked the Immigration Department to increase checks on MM2H participants who do business without permission. MOTAC permits business and investment activities only on the Platinum tier.
According to Bernama, Chiew reiterated the ministry’s commitment to regulatory compliance, transparency, and integrity. Reports on the statement mention no new rules.
Proposed Fixes
IMI also asked both advisers what Malaysia should change next, now that the revamped terms have revived demand. May said that “the program can be made even more attractive” but named no specific changes. Wong named two.
First on his list is “a clear pathway to permanent residency after a set qualifying period.” It would reward participants who accept the ten-year property hold, he said. As “a useful benchmark,” he cited “Hong Kong’s New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme,” under which investors can apply for permanent residency after seven years of continuous residence.
Malaysia announced permanent residency for the Platinum tier in its December 2023 revamp. The government dropped that route in June 2024, replacing it with a 20-year renewable pass.
His second proposal targets the dual requirement. MM2H applicants must “both place a fixed deposit and purchase property,” while “regional competitors offer more flexibility,” Wong noted.
He pointed to Thailand’s Long-Term Resident visa, which lets investors meet a US$500,000 requirement through government bonds, direct investment, or property. In the Philippines, he added, the retirement visa lets retirees convert the required deposit into a property purchase.
The deposit may even cut against Malaysia’s own goal, in Wong’s view. If the government wants to drive domestic spending, he argued, “requiring clients to hold significant sums in a fixed deposit may work against that objective.” Even with partial withdrawals, he said, “a substantial portion of capital remains parked in the banking system rather than circulating in the wider economy.”
