The Malaysian property market should maintain its surprisingly strong performance through the rest of 2025, according to remarks released today by Juwai IQI Co-Founder and Group CEO Kashif Ansari.

"The real estate market demonstrated resilience and growth across all key segments in 2024, with the number and value of transactions hitting their highest levels in a decade.

"The strong real estate market also boosted the share prices of many property industry companies," Ansari said.

For 2025, Ansari revealed that artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure investments are expected to be among the major drivers for the industrial real estate growth.

"Over RM57 billion has already been committed for data centres, with a total investment pipeline of RM149 billion, representing continued investor confidence.

"Second, foreign direct investment (FDI) and Malaysia's strategic participation in BRICS and CPTPP will contribute to sustaining the commercial real estate market," Ansari explained.

For the residential sector, Ansari said it was projected to increase by 3% in 2025, along with an increase in new home supply and continued improvement in transaction volume.

"The southern region, particularly areas with strong cross-border ties to Singapore, will see heightened demand as companies and consumers begin to take advantage of the new transport links and the incentives of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

"The SEZ will tightly bind Malaysia to its largest investor, which will boost economic activity more than similar pacts with other countries could," he added.

Ansari shared that Singapore sends more FDI to Malaysia than any other country.

"While the 2024 statistics are not yet available, Singapore topped the charts in 2023 with its RM22.6 billion of FDI. That was 28% more than second-ranked Hong Kong (RM17.5 billion) and Japan (RM5.5 billion)," he said.

Meanwhile, for the commercial real estate market, Ansari said major tenants are shifting towards newer and more environmentally sustainable office buildings.

"Based on our findings, 78% of the top 100 occupiers in Kuala Lumpur have committed to climate targets.

"The result indicates that new developments like Merdeka 118, which is Malaysia's first triple-platinum LEED-certified building, will find it relatively easy to find tenants despite having higher rental costs than most buildings on the market.

"Even though there are some vacancies in the market, these high-quality projects will see their space absorbed quickly," Ansari shared.

Looking ahead, Ansari highlighted that the Malaysian real estate sector in 2025 will continue to have another strong year with industrial and commercial segments leading the way, supported by high-tech investments and expanding trade partnerships.

"The residential market will remain stable. There, increased supply and affordability initiatives will help address challenges that slowed the market in past years," he said.