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SUMMARY
Apartment rental yields in Johor are attractive now, especially when a property can genuinely produce around 5.5% to 6% gross at a rent tenants are already paying.
Johor's yield advantage is real, but it is not enormous everywhere. Current comparable data puts Johor Bahru at about 5.31% gross and Iskandar Puteri at 5.78%, against roughly 4.86% in Kuala Lumpur and 5.27% across Malaysia.
The stronger part of the story is rent rather than speculation. Several established Johor projects have recorded sizeable rental increases since 2021, which means today's yields are not being created only by depressed sale prices.
Smaller apartments generally have the better economics. One-bedroom units in Johor Bahru average roughly 6.01% gross in the comparable dataset, while four-bedroom-and-larger apartments fall to about 4.42% because purchase prices rise much faster than rents.
A headline yield needs a fairly brutal haircut before it becomes spendable income. Maintenance, sinking funds, vacancy, repairs and other ownership costs can remove roughly 1.5 to 2 percentage points, turning a 5.5% gross yield into something closer to 3.5% to 4% before personal taxes.
Johor's huge serviced-apartment pipeline is both the opportunity and the danger. Combined unsold exposure rose to about 22,579 units in Q1 2026, which can keep acquisition prices low enough to support yields but also leaves tenants with plenty of alternatives.
The RTS Link and Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone improve the medium-term rental case, but neither should be used to rescue a weak deal. Parts of the transport story are already reflected in central Johor Bahru prices, while investment announcements only help landlords once they turn into actual jobs and tenants.
The highest-yielding areas are not necessarily the most fashionable ones. Tampoi, Larkin, Mount Austin, Tebrau and parts of Iskandar Puteri can offer better rent-to-price economics than expensive new towers sold mainly on proximity to Singapore.
Foreign investors face a noticeably worse equation. The RM1 million purchase threshold, 8% transfer stamp duty and Johor's foreign-acquisition approval charge can reduce a nominal 5% yield to around 4.5% on the capital committed before legal and other costs are even counted.
For a normal Johor high-rise, around 5.5% gross is a sensible minimum today, 6% or more is properly attractive, and anything above roughly 6.5% deserves a closer look. Very high advertised yields should be verified rather than celebrated: sometimes they are bargains, sometimes the building is cheap for a reason.
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Are apartment rental yields in Johor attractive now?
Yes. Apartment rental yields in Johor are attractive now by Malaysian big-city standards, especially when a property can genuinely produce around 5.5% to 6% gross without relying on optimistic rent assumptions.
The latest comparable dataset from Global Property Guide puts average gross apartment yields at about 5.31% in Johor Bahru and 5.78% in Iskandar Puteri. Malaysia as a whole sits around 5.27%, Kuala Lumpur around 4.86% and George Town around 3.74%.
That puts Johor in a good position, although hardly every condo deserves to be called a high-yield investment. A 5.5% headline yield can easily fall toward 3.5% to 4% once maintenance, vacancy, repairs and other landlord costs are included.
The more interesting part is what sits behind the yield. Johor combines relatively affordable apartment prices with rents that have risen in several established projects. That is healthier than a market where investors simply bid up property prices faster than tenants can afford.
| Market | Average gross apartment yield | Difference from Malaysia | How it looks today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iskandar Puteri | 5.78% | +0.51 pp | Attractive |
| Johor Bahru | 5.31% | +0.04 pp | Decent |
| Malaysia | 5.27% | — | Benchmark |
| Kuala Lumpur | 4.86% | -0.41 pp | Moderate |
| George Town | 3.74% | -1.53 pp | Weak |
Why are Johor apartment yields worth looking at again now?
Johor apartment yields have become more interesting because rents have strengthened while purchase prices remain low enough to leave landlords with a meaningful income return.
NAPIC's Johor rental tables show this clearly across several serviced-apartment projects. Between 2021 and 2025, monthly rents rose from roughly RM1,350 to RM2,000 at Molek Regency, RM1,150 to RM1,500 at Pandan Residence and RM1,075 to RM2,000 at Bora Residence. One Tebrau moved from around RM1,350 to RM1,700.
Across five NAPIC-tracked examples, including Forest City, the simple average monthly rent increased from about RM1,165 in 2021 to RM1,660 in 2025. That works out to roughly 42% over four years.
Five buildings obviously cannot describe the whole Johor market. Still, the numbers show that rents have been doing some real work here. The yield story is not just about cheap asking prices.
At the same time, Johor is attracting more economic activity tied to Singapore. Invest Johor reported RM91.1 billion of approved investment across the state by the third quarter of 2025. Some of that should eventually feed housing demand, but approved capital is not the same thing as occupied apartments.
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Are Johor apartment rents really rising?
Yes. Johor apartment rents have risen sharply in several established projects, although the gains vary far too much from building to building to talk about one single Johor rental boom.
NAPIC data shows Molek Regency rents rising roughly 48% between 2021 and 2025. Pandan Residence gained about 30%, One Tebrau about 26% and Bora Residence roughly 86%.
Forest City gives us a useful contrast. Its tracked monthly rent rose from around RM900 to RM1,100 over the same period, or about 22%. That is growth, but nowhere near the strongest Johor Bahru examples.
The spread is huge. Tenants are paying substantially more in some mature, useful locations, while weaker projects have moved much more slowly. Building-level evidence matters far more than a blanket claim that "Johor rents are rising."
| Serviced apartment | 2021 monthly rent | 2025 monthly rent | Approx. change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Molek Regency | RM1,350 | RM2,000 | +48% |
| Forest City | RM900 | RM1,100 | +22% |
| Pandan Residence | RM1,150 | RM1,500 | +30% |
| Bora Residence | RM1,075 | RM2,000 | +86% |
| One Tebrau Residence | RM1,350 | RM1,700 | +26% |
Does Johor offer better apartment yields than Kuala Lumpur?
Yes, although the advantage over Kuala Lumpur is useful rather than huge.
Current Global Property Guide data puts Johor Bahru at roughly 5.31% gross and Iskandar Puteri at 5.78%, compared with around 4.86% in Kuala Lumpur.
The difference becomes much larger when we compare Johor with expensive central Kuala Lumpur apartments. In KLCC, some apartment configurations currently produce gross yields around 3% to 4%, and the dataset puts three-bedroom units close to 2.3%.
Johor avoids much of that prestige premium. Tenants may pay less rent in absolute ringgit terms, but buyers also commit much less money to the property.
Johor still does not top Malaysia. Subang Jaya is currently around 6.3% on the same dataset, while some specific neighbourhoods elsewhere also clear 6%. Johor is one of Malaysia's stronger large rental markets, not the automatic national champion.
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Do smaller Johor apartments usually give better rental yields?
Usually, yes. Smaller Johor apartments often give landlords better yields because rents do not fall nearly as fast as purchase prices when unit size shrinks.
Global Property Guide's Johor Bahru dataset illustrates the pattern. Studios come out at roughly 5.52% gross, while one-bedroom units reach about 6.01%. Two-bedroom apartments sit near 5.22% and three-bedroom units around 5.39%.
Large apartments perform much worse in the same dataset, with four-bedroom-and-larger units averaging roughly 4.42%.
The reason is pretty simple. A tenant may happily pay several hundred ringgit more each month for another bedroom, but a buyer can pay hundreds of thousands of ringgit extra for a large premium apartment. The rent often fails to keep up with that additional purchase price.
For a landlord chasing income today, a sensibly priced one- or two-bedroom apartment therefore tends to make more sense than a large luxury unit unless the building has a strong expatriate-family or corporate-lease market.
| Johor Bahru unit type | Indicative purchase price | Indicative monthly rent | Gross yield |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | US$110,800 | US$510 | 5.52% |
| 1 bedroom | US$101,900 | US$510 | 6.01% |
| 2 bedrooms | US$140,100 | US$610 | 5.22% |
| 3 bedrooms | US$158,000 | US$710 | 5.39% |
| 4+ bedrooms | US$331,200 | US$1,220 | 4.42% |
Is a 5% to 6% Johor apartment yield still good after expenses?
A 5% to 6% gross yield in Johor is decent, but the landlord will keep considerably less than that.
Gross yield ignores maintenance charges, sinking-fund contributions, repairs, vacancy, insurance, assessment charges, quit rent, letting fees and replacement furniture. Global Property Guide estimates that Malaysian net yields commonly sit around 1.5 to 2 percentage points below gross yields.
A Johor apartment showing 5.5% gross could therefore end up around 3.5% to 4% before the owner's personal tax position. At 4.5% gross, the resulting net income can become pretty thin.
Purchase price is where a lot of investors quietly ruin the deal. Paying RM500,000 for an apartment producing RM30,000 of annual rent gives a 6% gross yield. Paying RM650,000 for exactly the same RM30,000 of rent cuts it to 4.6%.
Johor can still produce good income at current prices. Overpay for the "Johor growth story," though, and most of that advantage disappears.
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Has the RTS Link already pushed up Johor rental yields?
The RTS Link has already changed how buyers value parts of central Johor Bahru, but its full effect on rents has not been proven yet.
The cross-border rail line connects Bukit Chagar, beside JB Sentral, with Woodlands North in Singapore. Official project information puts peak capacity at up to 10,000 passengers per hour in each direction.
That is most useful for apartments where a tenant can realistically reach Bukit Chagar quickly. Someone earning Singapore dollars can already find Johor housing dramatically cheaper than comparable Singapore accommodation, and easier rail commuting makes that trade-off more practical.
The catch is pricing. Developers and sellers have known about the RTS for years, so part of the future benefit is already sitting inside asking prices around the city centre.
A property still needs to work at today's achievable rent. Paying a large premium because rents "will explode after RTS" turns a reasonable income investment into a speculative one.
Can the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone really create more tenants?
Yes, the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone can create a much larger professional tenant pool, but that change should happen gradually rather than all at once.
The JS-SEZ targets 50 high-impact projects within five years and 100 over ten years, with at least 20,000 skilled jobs over the decade. Malaysian government data showed RM37.1 billion of approved investment inside the zone during the first half of 2025, including RM24 billion in services and RM13 billion in manufacturing.
Singapore investors accounted for roughly RM28.5 billion of that total. Qualifying companies can also access a 5% corporate tax rate for up to 15 years, which gives businesses a concrete reason to place operations in Johor.
For apartment landlords, jobs matter much more than headline investment values. A billion-ringgit data centre may employ relatively few people once built, while a regional services hub can generate far more renters per ringgit invested.
The JS-SEZ strengthens the medium-term rental case, especially around genuine employment centres. It is not a reason to assume rents will jump simply because a building happens to sit somewhere inside the zone.
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Is Johor apartment oversupply still a big problem?
Yes. Johor still has a serious serviced-apartment supply problem, and buyers who ignore it are missing the biggest risk in the rental market.
NAPIC's latest market-status data continues to show Johor carrying a large share of Malaysia's unsold serviced apartments. Completed unsold stock was already close to 10,000 units in early 2026.
The risk is wider than completed overhang. Thousands of unsold serviced apartments also remain under construction, while further units sit in projects that have not yet started building.
That pipeline gives tenants plenty of alternatives. Two nearly identical towers competing for the same renter can quickly turn a theoretical RM2,500 rent into RM2,300 plus a free month, new furniture or cheaper renewal terms.
Rents have still risen in several established projects despite all that supply, which is encouraging. But demand is clearly not strong enough to rescue every tower developers have built.
| Johor serviced apartments | Q1 2025 | Q1 2026 | Approx. change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completed unsold | 9,507 | 9,972 | +4.9% |
| Unsold under construction | 6,967 | 8,491 | +21.9% |
| Unsold, construction not started | 321 | 4,116 | +1,182% |
| Combined unsold exposure | 16,795 | 22,579 | +34.4% |
Can Johor oversupply actually help rental yields?
Strangely, yes. Johor's excess apartment supply can help rental yields when it keeps purchase prices down more than it keeps rents down.
Rental yield is annual rent divided by the price paid for the property. If years of excess construction stop an apartment from rising much in value while tenant demand pushes rent higher, the yield improves.
That appears to be part of what is happening in Malaysia today. Global Property Guide's national apartment yield moved from about 5.10% in early 2025 to 5.27% in early 2026 while property prices remained comparatively restrained in many high-rise markets.
For an income buyer, that can create bargains. An apartment selling for RM400,000 and renting for RM2,000 per month generates 6% gross. The same rental income on a RM550,000 purchase produces only 4.36%.
Still, not every cheap unit is a bargain. Some apartments stay cheap because the owner bought well. Others stay cheap because buyers and tenants do not particularly want them.
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Where in Johor do apartment rental yields look strongest?
The best Johor rental opportunities currently tend to appear in practical Johor Bahru and Iskandar locations rather than in the most glamorous projects.
Global Property Guide puts Iskandar Puteri at roughly 5.78% gross on average. Separate neighbourhood-level research also finds strong rent-to-price ratios around Tampoi and Larkin, Mount Austin, Tebrau, Bandar Baru Uda and Permas Jaya.
Tampoi and Larkin are particularly interesting for pure income. One recent Johor apartment dataset estimated studios around RM290,000 renting for roughly RM1,550 a month, which works out near 6.4% gross and 4.9% net.
Mount Austin and Tebrau appeal for a different reason. Their tenant pools rely much more on local employment, healthcare, retail and education than on daily Singapore commuting. That gives landlords demand that can survive even if cross-border excitement cools.
Central Johor Bahru has the clearest Singapore commuter story, especially around JB Sentral and Bukit Chagar. The trade-off is price: buyers often pay considerably more for that accessibility, so a stronger tenant story does not always produce a stronger yield.
Forest City needs a bigger discount before it gets interesting. NAPIC's tracked rent there rose only from roughly RM900 in 2021 to RM1,100 in 2025, much slower than several established Johor Bahru projects. Cheap purchase prices can still create a decent yield, but tenant depth and resale liquidity remain less proven.
| Area | Current attraction | Main tenant base | Yield view |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tampoi / Larkin | Low entry prices | Local workers, commuters | Often strong |
| Mount Austin | Mature amenities | Local professionals, students | Strong |
| Tebrau | Large local catchment | Families, professionals | Good |
| Johor Bahru centre | Singapore access | Cross-border workers | Good, but pricier |
| Iskandar Puteri | Jobs, education, expats | Professionals, families | Attractive |
| Forest City | Very low entry prices | Narrower mixed demand | Higher risk |
Are Johor apartment yields as good for foreign buyers?
No. Johor apartment yields can look substantially worse for foreign buyers once purchase restrictions and upfront taxes are included.
Johor generally applies a RM1 million minimum price to foreign purchases of apartments and serviced apartments, subject to the state's specific rules and approvals. That cuts foreign investors off from many of the cheap units producing the best rent-to-price ratios.
Malaysia has also moved to an 8% transfer stamp-duty rate for residential property acquired by non-citizens other than permanent residents. Johor separately applies a foreign-purchase approval fee of 3% of value, with a RM30,000 minimum for residential and commercial property.
Take a RM1 million apartment producing RM50,000 of annual rent. On the advertised purchase price, the gross yield is 5%.
Add RM80,000 of transfer stamp duty and RM30,000 of Johor approval fees, and the buyer has already committed at least RM1.11 million before legal and other costs. The same RM50,000 rent then represents only about 4.5% of that capital.
A Malaysian buyer who can purchase a cheaper RM400,000 to RM600,000 unit may therefore have a much better Johor yield opportunity than a foreign investor looking at superficially similar apartments.
| Example foreign purchase | Amount |
|---|---|
| Apartment price | RM1,000,000 |
| Annual rent at 5% headline yield | RM50,000 |
| Transfer stamp duty at 8% | RM80,000 |
| Johor approval fee at 3% | RM30,000 |
| Capital before other costs | RM1,110,000 |
| Gross yield on that capital | 4.50% |
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Does a mortgage still work with Johor rental yields?
A mortgage can work on a strong Johor rental property today, but a mediocre 5% gross yield leaves very little room for error.
Bank Negara Malaysia currently has the Overnight Policy Rate at 2.75%. Actual housing-loan rates are higher, and standard effective mortgage rates advertised by Malaysian banks commonly sit around the mid-3% range for stronger borrowers, with the final cost varying by borrower and loan structure.
Compare that with the property itself. If a Johor apartment earns 5.5% gross and operating costs remove 1.5 to 2 percentage points, the underlying property return may fall toward 3.5% to 4%.
That leaves a narrow spread against financing costs before principal repayments are considered.
A genuine 6.5% or 7% gross yield gives the investor much more breathing room. At 5% or less, leveraged buyers can easily end up with weak or negative monthly cash flow once maintenance, vacancy and mortgage payments arrive together.
What rental yield should we actually demand from a Johor apartment?
We would want at least around 5.5% gross from an ordinary Johor apartment today, while 6% or more starts to look properly attractive.
Johor Bahru already averages roughly 5.3%, so accepting 4.5% on a normal high-rise unit makes little sense unless the property has an unusually strong reason to appreciate or an exceptionally secure tenant.
Around 5.5% to 6%, there is enough income to absorb normal costs while still leaving the owner with a reasonable return. Once a verified yield moves above 6.5%, the numbers get much more interesting.
And the higher the claimed yield gets, the more suspicious we become. An 8% yield deserves investigation rather than celebration. The low price may come from a distressed seller, but it may also reflect poor management, high service charges, weak resale demand or a rent assumption nobody has actually achieved.
The best figure to use is the rent tenants have recently signed for in the same building, not the highest listing an agent can find online.
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Will Johor apartment rental yields get even better?
Johor apartment yields could improve a little from here, but average yields are unlikely to suddenly jump far above today's levels.
The bullish setup is straightforward. More Singapore-linked employment and easier cross-border travel can push rents higher while Johor's large apartment supply keeps sale prices from running away.
The opposite can happen in the best locations. If buyers start paying much more for apartments near major transport links before rents catch up, gross yields will actually fall.
Imagine an apartment renting for RM2,500 a month. At RM500,000, it yields 6%. If its value rises to RM650,000 and the rent stays unchanged, the yield falls to 4.6%.
Supply will also keep competing with landlords. Johor has enough completed and future serviced-apartment stock that widespread rent spikes should be hard to sustain unless tenant growth becomes exceptionally strong.
Our base case is fairly simple: good Johor projects can keep producing roughly 5% to 6% gross yields, while individual bargains may go higher. The best locations may eventually become better capital-growth investments and slightly worse income investments as their prices rise.
So, are apartment rental yields attractive in Johor now?
Yes. Johor apartment rental yields are attractive now, especially for buyers who can secure a real 5.5% to 6% gross return in an established building with proven tenant demand.
The latest comparable figures put Johor Bahru around 5.31% and Iskandar Puteri around 5.78%. Several NAPIC-tracked projects have also recorded substantial rent growth over the past few years, so the income case has more behind it than cheap property prices alone.
We would still reject plenty of Johor apartments. Large serviced-apartment supply means tenants have choices, operating costs can remove 1.5 to 2 percentage points from gross returns, and expensive new projects can leave buyers with a surprisingly ordinary yield.
For Malaysian buyers, the best part of the market is often the less glamorous stock: smaller apartments bought at sensible prices in places where people already live and work. Those units can genuinely produce 6% or more.
Foreign buyers face a tougher equation because the RM1 million purchase threshold and heavy upfront charges push them toward more expensive stock. A headline 5% yield can quickly become mediocre once the full capital committed is counted.
So the condition is simple: the apartment has to make sense at today's rent and today's purchase price. If RTS access, JS-SEZ growth or future appreciation becomes upside later, great. The yield should already work before any of that happens.
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OUR METHODOLOGY
We assessed whether apartment rental yields in Johor are genuinely attractive by breaking the question into the factors that can materially change an investor's return: current gross yields, comparable Malaysian markets, achieved rents, unit size, operating costs, financing, competing supply, tenant depth, location and foreign-buyer acquisition costs.
We prioritized recent evidence that measures what is actually happening. Official NAPIC and JPPH data was used for Johor rents, unsold stock and market conditions, while Global Property Guide's comparable dataset was used to benchmark apartment yields in Johor Bahru and Iskandar Puteri against Kuala Lumpur, George Town, Subang Jaya and Malaysia overall.
We kept current income evidence separate from future demand assumptions. Achieved rents and gross yields describe today's rental economics. Unsold inventory shows the amount of competing stock. Financing rates and acquisition charges show how much of a headline yield an owner can realistically retain. The RTS Link, JS-SEZ investment and employment targets are treated as forward demand factors rather than rental income that already exists.
We also tested the headline yields against ownership costs. The yield thresholds in the article are therefore not universal definitions of a good investment: they reflect current Johor market yields and the amount of return that can remain after maintenance, vacancy, repairs, financing pressure and other normal landlord expenses.
For foreign buyers, we separately incorporated the state's acquisition rules and current federal stamp-duty treatment because they materially change the capital committed to the same apartment. This is why a yield that looks attractive on the advertised purchase price can look much weaker once the full acquisition cost is included.
Key sources include Global Property Guide's Malaysian rental-yield dataset, NAPIC/JPPH's Property Market Report 2025, NAPIC's latest 2026 property-market publications, and NAPIC's property-status publications for completed, under-construction and not-yet-constructed unsold supply.
For transport and economic-development assumptions, we used the Malaysia Ministry of Transport, MRT Corp's RTS Link project information, the Singapore Land Transport Authority, the official JS-SEZ project objectives, official JS-SEZ investment figures, JS-SEZ incentive information, MIDA's Investment Performance Report 2025, and Invest Johor.
Financing and acquisition-cost checks use Bank Negara Malaysia's current monetary-policy rate, published mortgage information from Hong Leong Bank and CIMB, the Malaysia Ministry of Finance's Budget 2026 tax measures, and the Johor Land and Mines Office's information on foreign property acquisitions and approval charges.
The conclusion comes from combining those different pieces rather than letting a single attractive yield figure decide the answer. A Johor apartment only counts as genuinely attractive here when the purchase price, achievable rent, ownership costs and tenant base all work together today; future infrastructure or economic growth is treated as potential upside.
Buying real estate in Johor can be risky
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