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SUMMARY
Johor rents are still rising in selected locations, but the broad market is no longer in the rapid repricing phase seen earlier. The clearest pattern now is high rents holding firm in the strongest Singapore-facing locations while weaker or more heavily supplied projects move much less.
Bukit Chagar shows the shift best. Two-bedroom units at Twin Tower Residence are still asking roughly RM3,100-RM3,500, but that is almost the same range seen several months earlier: expensive, yes, but not obviously accelerating.
The earlier boom was real. NAPIC comparisons recorded rent increases of roughly 5-12% across several unrelated Johor Bahru and Iskandar developments, which is too broad to dismiss as a handful of fashionable buildings.
Location has become more important than size. Modern condos near the Singapore crossing can command around RM3.5-RM4.0 psf while much larger older JB units still sit near RM1.2-RM1.4 psf.
The RTS premium is increasingly priced in before operations begin. Tenants are already paying for the expected convenience of Bukit Chagar, so the next rent leg probably depends more on actual commuter adoption than on another round of anticipation.
Johor's economic backdrop is stronger than the rental trend alone suggests. The state attracted RM59.4 billion of approved investment in the first half of 2026, giving the market a much firmer employment story than one driven only by property speculation.
The JS-SEZ can deepen rental demand across several submarkets, but there is no clean JS-SEZ rental premium yet. Investment approvals need to become occupied projects, jobs and relocated households before they translate into measurable rent pressure.
Supply remains the main brake. Nearly 10,000 completed unsold serviced apartments and a future high-rise pipeline of around 70,000 units give tenants enough alternatives to resist rent increases outside the best buildings.
That is why Johor can have strong demand and still avoid a market-wide landlord squeeze. Better projects can raise rents while mediocre or older stock stays flat because both are competing for tenants in a very deep condo market.
Forest City remains the clearest counterexample to the idea that Singapore proximity alone guarantees premium rents. Current asking rents there are still far below Bukit Chagar, reinforcing how much direct connectivity, jobs and everyday convenience matter.
The next upside trigger is straightforward: RTS usage, job creation and household formation need to outrun new rental supply. If that happens, central JB can accelerate again; if it does not, Johor is more likely to remain a selective, project-by-project rental market.
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Are rents in Johor still rising right now?
Johor rents are still rising in some parts of Greater Johor Bahru, but the latest evidence suggests the wider market has moved from rapid increases to something more selective.
That distinction has become important. Earlier NAPIC rental comparisons showed clear increases across developments such as Setia Sky 88, Sky View, Sky Garden, Citywoods, Bora Residence and several Iskandar Puteri projects. In some cases the observed increase was close to or above 10%.
But plenty of projects were flat over the same period. R&F Tanjung Puteri, The Astaka, Country Garden Danga Bay, Paragon Residences and several Medini developments showed little or no movement in NAPIC's comparisons.
The most recent asking-rent evidence makes the picture even clearer. Around Bukit Chagar, one of the hottest locations because of the coming RTS Link, an 882 sq ft two-bedroom at Twin Tower Residence was being marketed around RM3,100-RM3,500 in June. Comparable units are currently around RM3,100-RM3,500 again. Rents there remain expensive, but they are no longer obviously accelerating every few months.
So Johor today looks like a market where strong locations are holding onto earlier rent gains and some buildings are still climbing, rather than one where landlords everywhere can keep raising rents.
| Johor rental segment | What is happening now | Typical evidence | Our reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bukit Chagar / RTS area | High and firm | ~RM3,100-3,500 for many 2BR Twin Tower units | Strong, but recent acceleration looks limited |
| Modern JB city-centre condos | Firm to rising | Often RM3+ psf | Still among Johor's strongest markets |
| Iskandar Puteri / Medini | Mixed | Roughly RM1,800-2,600 for many current units | Healthy demand, plenty of choice |
| Older JB condos | Mostly cheaper | Many listings below RM2 psf | Weak pricing power |
| Forest City apartments | Low relative to JB | Around RM1,000-1,600 in several current listings | Still a separate, much softer market |
Did Johor Bahru really have a rent boom?
Yes, Johor Bahru went through a genuine rent increase, and the earlier rise was broad enough to show up across several unrelated developments.
NAPIC's project-level rental observations are useful here because they go beyond asking prices. Setia Sky 88 recorded an increase of roughly 11.6%, Sky View about 10.7%, Sky Garden 10%, Citywoods and Bora Residence around 7.9%, One Medini about 6.9% and Eco Nest roughly 5.8% in the relevant comparison period.
Those buildings cover several parts of Greater JB and different price brackets. That makes it difficult to dismiss the earlier increase as one development suddenly becoming fashionable.
The market was never completely uniform, though. Several expensive or well-known projects remained flat while others rose sharply. Johor's rental boom was real, but tenants were already choosing quite carefully where they were willing to pay more.
| Development | Earlier rent range | Later rent range | Recorded change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bora Residence | RM1,200-2,600 | RM1,500-2,600 | +7.9% |
| Citywoods | RM1,600-2,200 | RM1,800-2,300 | +7.9% |
| Eco Nest | RM1,150-3,200 | RM1,400-3,200 | +5.8% |
| One Medini | RM1,000-1,900 | RM1,200-1,900 | +6.9% |
| Setia Sky 88 | RM1,400-2,900 | RM1,900-2,900 | +11.6% |
| Sky View | — | — | +10.7% |
| Sky Garden | RM1,000-2,000 | RM1,300-2,000 | +10.0% |
| R&F Tanjung Puteri | RM1,400-3,600 | RM1,400-3,600 | Stable |
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Are rents near the Johor-Singapore border still the strongest?
Yes, central Johor Bahru and the Singapore-facing part of the city currently have some of Johor's strongest rents, especially when a tenant can save time on the cross-border commute.
Bukit Chagar shows how large that convenience premium has become. Current Twin Tower Residence listings put many studios around RM2,000-RM2,500, while two-bedroom units of roughly 880-900 sq ft are commonly around RM3,100-RM3,500. That works out at roughly RM3.5-RM4.0 psf for many two-bedroom units.
Compare that with older Johor Bahru stock. Recent listings include a 1,600 sq ft unit at Indah Samudra around RM2,300, or RM1.44 psf; a 2,258 sq ft Bay Point unit around RM2,800, or RM1.24 psf; and a large Palm Garden unit around RM1.35 psf.
The gap is huge. Tenants in central JB are paying several times more per square foot for smaller modern units when the location makes commuting easier.
That also tells us why the phrase “Johor rents” can be misleading. Two apartments only a short drive apart can live in completely different rental markets.
Is the RTS Link still pushing Johor rents higher before it opens?
The RTS Link is still supporting rents around Bukit Chagar, although the latest listings suggest much of the first repricing has already happened.
The rail link will connect Bukit Chagar and Woodlands North in roughly five minutes of train time, with capacity of up to 10,000 passengers per hour in each direction. Passengers will also clear Malaysian and Singaporean immigration at the departure station.
That changes the practical value of living in central JB for somebody working in Singapore. A tenant is effectively paying extra for a future commute that should be much easier than today's road and Causeway journey.
The interesting part now is the recent price behaviour. In June, Twin Tower Residence already had 882 sq ft two-bedroom units marketed around RM3,100-RM3,500. Current listings are still clustered around the same range. The number of Bukit Chagar rental listings has also remained large.
So the RTS premium looks very real, but a high rent is not the same thing as a rent that is still rising quickly. As of now, Bukit Chagar looks more like a market holding onto a large connectivity premium than one experiencing another sudden jump.
| Bukit Chagar indicator | Around June | Currently | What changed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twin Tower 2BR, ~882 sq ft | RM3,100-3,500 | RM3,100-3,500 | Very little |
| RM/psf for many 2BR units | ~RM3.5-4.0 | ~RM3.5-4.0 | Still high |
| Rental listings in area | 220+ visible | 210+ visible | Plenty of competing supply |
| RTS status | Approaching completion | Approaching operations | Expectation increasingly priced in |
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Is Johor creating enough new jobs to keep rents rising?
Johor's economy is currently strong enough to create real housing demand, and the newest investment numbers are much stronger than the rental story alone would suggest.
According to MIDA's latest national investment release, Johor attracted RM59.4 billion of approved investment during the first half of 2026, making it Malaysia's second-largest investment destination after Selangor.
The timing is particularly interesting. Johor had recorded RM16.9 billion during the first quarter. That means roughly RM42.5 billion was approved during the second quarter alone. In other words, more than 70% of Johor's first-half investment total arrived in only three months.
Investment approvals do not instantly become tenants. Factories, data centres and offices take time to build, companies hire gradually, and some projects never create as many local jobs as their headline investment value suggests.
Still, this is a much stronger basis for future rent demand than property speculation alone. The Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone is moving from policy announcements toward actual capital deployment, while manufacturing, digital infrastructure and service-sector projects are expanding the pool of people who may need housing around Greater JB.
Is the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone already changing the rental market?
The Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone is starting to support Johor housing demand, but it is still too early to attribute a specific rent increase to the JS-SEZ itself.
The zone covers a huge part of southern Johor and targets sectors including manufacturing, logistics, digital economy, financial services, healthcare and tourism. Its longer-term objectives include 100 projects and 20,000 skilled jobs.
MIDA's recent investment figures make the story more concrete. Johor recorded RM126.9 billion in approved investments between 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, and another very strong quarter subsequently lifted the state's first-half 2026 total to RM59.4 billion.
That kind of investment can eventually affect rental demand across more than the city centre. Engineers may choose Iskandar Puteri, managers may rent family homes around Bukit Indah, industrial workers can add demand farther east, and cross-border professionals may concentrate closer to the RTS.
We still cannot measure a clean “JS-SEZ rental premium” today. The useful conclusion is narrower: the employment base behind Johor's rental market is getting stronger at the same time as the RTS improves connectivity.
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Why aren't Johor rents rising everywhere if demand is this strong?
Johor still has so much high-rise supply that tenants can often refuse a rent increase and simply look at another unit.
NAPIC's Q1 2026 market-status data put Johor's completed unsold serviced apartments at 9,972 units. Johor alone accounted for more than half of Malaysia's completed serviced-apartment overhang.
The pipeline adds another layer of competition. Industry estimates at the end of 2025 put Johor's future high-rise supply around 70,000 units, considerably larger than its future landed-home pipeline.
Those numbers explain the strange combination we see today: strong economic growth, strong infrastructure catalysts and thousands of landlords still competing for tenants.
As a result, the best buildings can raise rents while mediocre ones stay flat. Johor does not need weak demand for rents to stop climbing. It simply needs enough similar apartments chasing the same tenant.
| Supply pressure | Approximate scale | What it means for rents |
|---|---|---|
| Completed unsold serviced apartments | 9,972 units | Immediate excess inventory |
| Completed unsold residential units | ~3,850 units | More housing choice |
| Future high-rise pipeline | ~70,000 units | Large future landlord competition |
| Future landed pipeline | ~38,000 units | Much smaller than high-rise supply |
| High-rise share of these two pipelines | ~65% | Supply is concentrated in the rental-heavy segment |
Is Johor's condo oversupply getting better or worse?
Johor's completed overhang has improved from the worst years, but the amount of high-rise stock still coming through the pipeline remains a serious cap on future rents.
That distinction is easy to miss. A developer can sell an apartment that later becomes another rental listing. Falling unsold inventory therefore does not automatically mean fewer homes competing for tenants.
Q1 2026 data showed close to 10,000 completed unsold serviced apartments in Johor, while additional unsold serviced apartments remained under construction and in planning stages.
The market can absorb part of that supply if the RTS and JS-SEZ create enough new households. But there is little reason to expect every new tenant to translate directly into higher rent when developers are simultaneously creating thousands of new alternatives.
For us, this is the main reason to resist the more aggressive Johor rent forecasts. Demand is strong enough to keep good properties busy. Supply is large enough to stop that strength spreading automatically across the market.
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Are Iskandar Puteri and Medini rents still rising?
Iskandar Puteri rents remain healthy, but today's listings look more competitive than genuinely overheated.
Current asking rents include roughly RM2,600 for a 955 sq ft two-bedroom at Medini Signature, RM2,200 for a 770 sq ft two-bedroom at Elysia Park and around RM1,800 for a 520 sq ft studio at Grand Medini.
Earlier NAPIC comparisons did record rent growth at developments including Eco Nest and One Medini. So tenants have clearly become willing to pay more in parts of the area.
Yet there are currently around 1,600 condo rental listings across Iskandar Puteri on PropertyGuru alone. Individual listings can be duplicated, so that number should never be treated as 1,600 distinct vacant homes, but it still shows how much choice tenants face.
Medini therefore has a decent rental story these days, particularly around healthcare, education and established employment areas. We would expect gradual project-by-project gains before another broad surge.
Is Forest City finally joining Johor's rental boom?
Forest City is still far behind central Johor Bahru on rents, and current asking prices show just how wide the gap remains.
PropertyGuru currently has Forest City apartments around RM1,000 for a 517 sq ft one-bedroom-plus-study, RM1,300 for a 600 sq ft two-bedroom and about RM1,600 for an 861 sq ft two-bedroom.
That compares with roughly RM2,000-RM2,500 for many studios at Twin Tower Residence near Bukit Chagar and more than RM3,000 for many two-bedroom units there.
Forest City may attract more residents as its special financial-zone plans develop and activity returns to the area. But the rental evidence today still shows a relatively cheap market with plenty of available stock.
In practical terms, Forest City's lower rents make it a useful counterexample to the idea that Singapore proximity alone is enough. Direct connectivity, jobs and daily convenience matter far more than the number of kilometres separating a property from Singapore.
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Are older Johor Bahru condos getting the same rent increases?
Older Johor Bahru condos are generally missing the biggest rent increases, and current asking rents make the difference easy to see.
A recent Indah Samudra listing asks about RM2,300 for 1,600 sq ft. Bay Point has a 2,258 sq ft unit around RM2,800. Palm Garden has a 2,600 sq ft unit around RM3,500. All three come in around RM1.2-RM1.4 psf.
A smaller modern unit near Bukit Chagar can currently command around RM3.5-RM4.5 psf, sometimes more for studios.
Part of that premium comes from age and furnishings, but location is doing a lot of the work. People willing to live in a much smaller apartment because it saves time crossing into Singapore are creating a rental market based on convenience rather than floor space.
This is also why buying a large cheap condo in JB and assuming rents will catch up with newer buildings is risky. Tenants have shown that they will pay much more per square foot, but only where the property solves a problem they actually have.
How expensive are Johor rents now?
Johor rents currently range from barely RM1,000 for some small peripheral apartments to RM3,000-RM3,500 for ordinary two-bedroom units in the strongest central JB locations.
That range is unusually wide. A 600 sq ft Forest City apartment is currently advertised around RM1,300. A 955 sq ft Medini Signature two-bedroom is around RM2,600. An 882 sq ft Twin Tower Residence two-bedroom can reach RM3,500.
A tenant moving from Forest City to Bukit Chagar can therefore pay roughly two to three times as much per square foot without moving into anything particularly luxurious.
Large older condos tell the same story from another angle. Indah Samudra, Bay Point and Palm Garden can still sit around RM1.2-RM1.4 psf despite being much closer to central JB than Forest City.
Johor now has a very clear hierarchy: direct cross-border convenience commands the biggest premium, strong Iskandar locations sit below that, and apartments with weak transport advantages remain far cheaper.
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Can Johor landlords keep raising rents from here?
Johor landlords can still raise rents in the best buildings, but another market-wide jump looks unlikely unless tenant growth starts beating new supply by a much wider margin.
The demand side is strong. Johor has the coming RTS Link, the JS-SEZ, RM59.4 billion of approved investment in the latest first-half figures and a rapidly expanding economic base.
The supply side is equally hard to ignore. Almost 10,000 completed unsold serviced apartments remain in Johor, future high-rise supply runs into tens of thousands of units, and even the hottest rental areas still show hundreds of competing listings.
The current Bukit Chagar data are particularly useful here. Two-bedroom Twin Tower asking rents around RM3,100-RM3,500 were already visible in June and remain around that level now. Landlords have held onto high rents, which is a positive sign, but the evidence does not show another dramatic repricing during the past few months.
So the next phase should be slower and messier. Great buildings can keep moving higher. Average buildings will probably need stronger occupancy before owners can push rents again.
What could make Johor rents start rising faster again?
Johor rents could accelerate again if RTS commuting creates thousands of new tenant households while the JS-SEZ turns its investment pipeline into actual jobs.
The first test will be RTS usage. Its theoretical capacity of up to 10,000 passengers per hour in each direction is enormous, but actual commuting behaviour is what matters for housing. If thousands of Singapore-linked workers decide that living in JB is suddenly practical, central rental demand can tighten quickly.
The second test is employment conversion. Johor's investment approvals are already impressive, especially the roughly RM42.5 billion implied for the second quarter after RM16.9 billion in Q1. What we need next is hiring, occupied industrial space and workers relocating into the state.
The third test is absorption. If those new households fill existing condos faster than the next wave of projects reaches the rental market, landlords regain pricing power.
Until then, we should expect the best-located projects to outperform rather than assume another statewide rental surge.
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So, are rents in Johor still rising?
Partly yes: Johor rents are still rising in selected locations, but as of now the stronger story is that earlier rent increases are holding rather than accelerating across the whole market.
We can see the change clearly. NAPIC's earlier project comparisons recorded genuine increases of roughly 5-12% in several JB and Iskandar developments. Current Bukit Chagar listings still command around RM3,100-RM3,500 for many two-bedroom units, yet those prices have barely changed from comparable listings several months earlier.
At the same time, Johor's economic case has become stronger. The state attracted RM59.4 billion of approved investment in the latest first-half figures, the RTS is approaching operations, and the JS-SEZ is moving deeper into implementation.
Supply keeps the market from becoming a simple landlord's market. Johor still has almost 10,000 completed unsold serviced apartments, a huge high-rise pipeline and strikingly cheap alternatives in places such as Forest City and older parts of JB.
So the answer today is sharper than “yes, Johor rents are rising.” Central JB and the most useful Singapore-facing locations remain strong. Some projects can still push higher. Across Johor as a whole, however, the rapid repricing phase has cooled into a much more selective market.
OUR METHODOLOGY
This analysis tests whether rents in Johor are still rising by separating earlier recorded rent growth from what landlords are asking today. We compare project-level rental movements, current asking rents, location and connectivity, employment and investment drivers, and competing high-rise supply rather than treating Johor as one uniform rental market.
Official NAPIC property-market reports anchor the historical rental and supply picture. We use its project-level observations to identify where rents previously increased and where they stayed flat, and its Q1 2026 market-status data to measure completed unsold serviced apartments and the wider property overhang.
Current PropertyGuru listings are used as direct asking-rent evidence, especially in Bukit Chagar, Medini and Forest City. We use them to test whether rents in specific buildings are still moving higher, but we do not treat individual listings or portal listing counts as official vacancy data.
The Bukit Chagar analysis compares current Twin Tower Residence asking rents with similar observations from several months earlier. This helps separate a rent that is already high from a rent that is still accelerating.
For future demand, we use MIDA's Q1 and H1 2026 investment releases to track Johor's approved investment, while official Malaysian and Singaporean transport sources provide the RTS Link's route, journey time, capacity and immigration arrangement.
The Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone is treated as a demand driver rather than a measurable rent premium. Its official portal is used for the zone's geographic scope, promoted sectors, project targets and skilled-job objectives.
We also test the demand story against supply. NAPIC's Q1 2026 data and The Edge Malaysia's reporting on Olive Tree Property Consultants' Johor monitor provide the completed overhang and future high-rise pipeline used to judge how much pricing power landlords are likely to have.
We do not give every datapoint equal weight. Directly comparable observations, repeated evidence and first-hand or official sources carry more weight than isolated listings or general commentary. Where demand and supply evidence diverge, the conclusion is narrowed to the submarkets where the evidence is strongest.
Key sources include: NAPIC's Malaysia Property Market Report 2025, NAPIC's Southern Region Property Market H1 2025, NAPIC's Southern Region Property Market Report 2024, NAPIC's Q1 2026 market-status tables, NAPIC's Q1 2026 property-market release, MIDA's Q1 2026 investment performance release, MIDA's H1 2026 investment performance release, MIDA's official investment statistics, Malaysia's Ministry of Transport on the RTS Link, Singapore LTA's RTS Link factsheet, Singapore's Ministry of Transport on RTS implementation, the official JS-SEZ overview, the official JS-SEZ investment framework, The Edge Malaysia / Olive Tree Property Consultants' Johor monitor, a current Twin Tower Residence listing at RM3,500, a second Twin Tower Residence observation at RM3,300, a current Medini Signature listing at RM2,600, and a current Forest City listing at RM1,300.
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