Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H), the government’s initiative to attract foreigners to live in the country, has drawn 43,466 applications since its launch in 2002 to November 2018.

According to the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister, the approvals comprised of applications received from 131 countries, mainly from Chinese citizens.

Applicants from China dominated with 13,892 approvals over the period, followed by Japan (4,882), Bangladesh (4,187), the UK (2,729), Korea (2,568), Singapore (1,492), Taiwan (1,428), Iran (1,411), Hong Kong (1,087) and India (1,077), forming the top 10 list.

There is an increase in interest in the MM2H programme from Hong Kong residents due to on-going anti-Beijing demonstrations in the region. MM2H had reportedly attracted 251 applications from Hong Kong in 2019 against the 193 approved in 2018.

The programme has received some 3,500 applications in total as of August 20 this year, compared to 6,279 last year. However, none of this year’s applications had been approved.

Successful entrants to the MM2H programme are given a social visit pass and a multiple entry 10-year visa which can be renewed.

According to the Housing and Local Government Minister, only 15% of the participants in the MM2H programme had purchased properties in the country, where the majority of the buyers are from China.

Foreign ownership in the Malaysian property market is still under control. Between January and June 2019, there were 398 transactions from foreign buyers which accounted for only 0.4% of total sales. Malaysian buyers still made up the bulk of the transactions at 99.6% or 99,524 buyers.