To be able to afford a typical house here, a research has claimed that you need a minimum household income of RM10,757 per month.

This is based on calculations from the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, which considers properties as low-cost if it can be purchased with three years' worth of income.

Based on the latest statistics from the Valuation and Property Services Department, the average price of houses in Malaysia had surged from RM280,886 in 2014 to RM387,258 last year.

In particular, houses in Kuala Lumpur posted the highest average price of RM700,000.

This means residential properties here are "severely unaffordable”, as a low-cost property should only cost RM188,208, given that the countrywide median monthly household income amounted to RM5,228 in 2016.

However, most or 78 percent of Malaysian families here earn less than RM10,000 per month, while that for 41 percent are even less than RM5,000, although Kuala Lumpur has a median monthly household income of RM9,073.

Even in Sabah and Sarawak, where the median monthly salary is around RM4,100, prices of residential properties are still considered expensive.

To tackle Malaysia's housing woes, the federal government plans to increase of supply of affordable flats and impose Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT) to deter speculators.

Furthermore, experts expect Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to announce more measures and policies to solve the country's housing problems when the 2018 Budget is announced on 27 October.