KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia was ranked in the top 10 as the most popular destination for Chinese homebuyers and best place to live for expats, according to Juwai IQI. The firm said this is based on two new reports that signify that Malaysia is more desirable among expats and investors worldwide.
Chinese property investors ranked Malaysia at sixth place among other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.
The result of the ranking was generated from the number of buyer enquiries that Juwai IQI platform received.
"Malaysia ranks well because of its quality of life, affordable living, and digital connectivity. Malaysia is a multilingual country, so visitors from all over the world can feel comfortable here," it said.
Juwai IQI said Chinese buyers have amassed unprecedented savings that can be used to purchase overseas properties and official statistics showed in the first nine months of 2022, Chinese savings deposits increased in value by RMB 26.3 trillion.
Meanwhile, Internations organisation, with 12,000 members that comprises mostly American, British, Indian, German and Italian, ranked Malaysia as the fourth best place in the world for expats.
Juwai IQI said the results from Internations augurs well with its own research that shows Malaysia is a top destination.
Internations reported that Malaysia ranks second for housing and fourth for language, which outranked other Asean countries. "Malaysia ranks fifth in the world for financial satisfaction and cost of living. Malaysia is also a friendly country, and expats rank it in the global top ten in 'ease of finding friends.
"Compared to other top destinations, Malaysia ranks highly with expats but has a relatively small population of resident expats.
The most common countries of residence for expats are Germany, Spain, the UAE, the USA and Switzerland," it added.
Juwai IQI co-founder and group chief executive officer Kashif Ansari said the country has emerged from Covid-19 as a more dynamic and positive place. "People from other parts of the world see that life here is special and want to visit, spend money and invest," he said.