Biggest renter group in Malaysia are millennials, study shows

KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 — Millennials were the biggest category of renters in 2023 and accounted for 37.8 per cent of all rental transactions in the country, said a new study.

According to real estate technology group Juwai Iqi’s 2024 Home Renters Generational Trends Report released today, the next biggest was Generation Z that accounted for 30.7 per cent of rental transactions.

Baby boomers accounted for 2.7 per cent of transactions but paid the highest in rent.

“Over the past five years, Generation Z has seen the fastest growth in its share of rental transactions.

“In the first quarter of 2024, Generation Z accounted for a 3.5-fold larger share of all transactions than in the first quarter of 2019.

“The generation that pays the highest average rent today is the baby boomers. Baby boomers pay an average of RM2,120 per month on rent,” Juwai Iqi co-founder and group Chief executive officer (CEO) Kashif Ansari said in an accompanying press release.

Generation Z are those aged 15 to 29 years old, millennials are those who were born from 1980 to 1994, and baby boomers are those born from 1946 to 1964.

“Apart from Generation Z, every other generation saw its share of rental transactions decrease between 2019 and 2024. Baby Boomers' share of rental transactions fell by more than half,” he said.

Those who were born from 1965 to 1979, more commonly known as Generation X, only paid RM16 more on rent compared to Baby Boomers with a national average of RM2,104 a month.

The study also found that Generation Z and millennials paid an average of RM1,750 and RM1,862 monthly, respectively, in 2023.

Despite the slump in rental rates as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, baby boomers still paid the most for rent from 2020 until 2022 at an average rate under RM2,000, mostly for landed properties and rarely, apartments, Ansari said.

“It makes sense that Baby Boomers pay the most. They tend to be at the peak of their income and savings and have large homes to accommodate families.

“When it comes to apartments, only a tiny share of transactions went to baby boomers and builders,” he said.

Those aged 79 and older, also known as builders, only made up less than one per cent of the rental transactions in 2023.

Juwai Iqi is an international real estate technology group that powers property transactions and ownership locally and globally. It examined data from more than 67,000 rental transactions for its report.