Affordable housing has been a topic of contention in Malaysia in recent years, and no less in Sabah which is among states where property prices rank high along with Penang, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

So understandably a few feathers were ruffled when someone suggested that it is a good thing for more China nationals to buy up properties here under the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H).

"To say that the way to quicken property sales by looking to foreigners is to say that locals don't matter so long as the property dealers and property developers' interest is protected" said a lecturer here in response to a comment by the president of the Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents Datuk Seri Winston Liaw.

Liaw had said that "(Malaysia) needs Chinese investors' financial strength to boost our economy” in referring to the rising number of China nationals buying properties in Peninsular Malaysia, especially Johor, but not in Sabah.

With the Chinese government imposing a two-property ceiling on their citizens, its cash-rich people have moved abroad, at times buying vast tracts of land to develop properties to be sold to their fellow Chinese. In Johor for example, a China developer is building 7,000 units of housing targeting China buyers.

The phenomenon has been blamed for the sharp rise in property prices from Sydney to Vancouver, said property website propertyguru.com. But there are fears that a bubble of oversupply will eventually crash the market. In Malaysia, the Chinese invasion has also been attributed to for the increase of property prices in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor. Citizens from China topped the list of MM2H applicants with 7,976, according to the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism.

A recent record showed that 31,723 MM2H applications were approved. The applicants came from 126 countries. Citizens from China emerged as the top applicants in the government's Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme, with 7,976 applications, reported The Sun Daily citing Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.

Japan and Bangladesh came in second and third, with 4,127 and 3,399 applications, respectively. Rounding up the top five list are Britain (2,361) and Iran (1,331).

With 31,723 applications approved by the government, the MM2H programme saw applications coming from citizens across 126 countries since its inception until November last year.

It's been said that ‘whenever China enters the property market of a country, the local market is driven out - from Vancouver to Sydney and now Malaysia', prompting lawmakers to query the benefit of the influx to Malaysia.

State authorities allow foreigners to purchase properties worth RM1 million upwards. Sabah property developers some of which have limited success in promoting their projects in cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore said the ceiling should be at RM650,000 which is considered closer to the local buyers' affordable range.