Hongkongers’ turn to Malaysia’s second home programme as protests persist
- Malaysia says 251 Hong Kong residents have applied so far this year, with an expat agency saying there has been a surge in the last two weeks
- The ‘Malaysia My Second Home’ initiative allows wealthy foreigners to live in the country and buy property there
Hongkongers scout properties in Malaysia as turmoil rumbles on
“The push factor from Hong Kong will definitely make Malaysia one of the best alternatives for a new location to reside,” said Sharifah Ikhlas Aljaffree, the director of the programme run by Malaysia’s tourism ministry.
“Our strength lies not only in our nation’s friendliness, affordable cost of living and high quality of life (health care included) but also the stability of our economy and politics plus our developed infrastructure,” she said.
Sharifah said the programme had received this year a total of 3,500 applications by Tuesday, versus 6,279 in 2018. None of this year’s applications had been approved, she said.
It was not immediately clear how many applications were received last year from Hong Kong, one of the world’s most densely populated and expensive cities.
Hong Kong applicants are on either side of 50 and work in sectors such as information and communications technology, Sharifah added.
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Those approved get renewable multiple-entry resident visas and are allowed to buy property valued at 1 million ringgit (US$239,234) or more, and own vehicles. But they cannot work full-time without an employment pass, the programme website shows.
MyExpat, an agency that advises expatriates on Malaysia’s programme, said the number of its Hong Kong clients had surged in the past two weeks, but gave no figures.
People from mainland China have accounted for 30 per cent of the more than 42,000 applications approved from 2012 to 2018.

People from Hong Kong could consider options such as the Thai capital of Bangkok and Vietnam’s cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, said Foo Gee Jen, managing director of Malaysian property consultancy CBRE-WTW.
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Hong Kong buyers were looking elsewhere in the long term because they faced prices exceeding what 75 per cent of the population could afford, he said.
“They would never own a property in their entire life,” he added. “The only option is to buy somewhere else.”
