Property vs the S&P 500 in Malaysia: 20 Years of Real Numbers
It usually starts at a family dinner. Someone's uncle leans back and says what Malaysians have said for decades: "Buy property. Land never goes down."
Someone younger mentions the American stock market. The table goes quiet.
So who is right? We tracked both, in ringgit, for 20 years.
The short answer: From the end of 2005 to the end of 2025, RM100,000 in the S&P 500 grew to about RM793,000 in ringgit, after estimated fund costs and withholding tax. The same RM100,000 in an average Malaysian house grew to about RM284,000 on price alone, or about RM546,000 if you also collected rent at a 3.5% net yield. Cash for cash, the S&P 500 won clearly. But with a 90% bank loan, a house bought in 2005 beat an S&P 500 investor who put in the same money, as long as the rent covered most of the loan. A house bought in 2015 did not. |
That last part is the twist most articles leave out. The honest answer to "property vs stocks in Malaysia" is not one word. It depends on three things you can check tonight: whether you use a loan, what rent you really keep, and which decade you buy in.
This article walks you through all of it, with real numbers, the hidden costs on both sides, and a simple way to decide what fits your own money.
In this article:
The question every Malaysian family argues about
For many Malaysians over 40, property is not just an investment. It is a feeling of safety.
You can stand in it. You can rent it out. Your parents probably bought one, and it probably went up. Nobody texts you at midnight to say your house fell 7% today.
Shares feel different. If you have ever lost money on a "hot tip" from Bursa, or watched a unit trust go nowhere for ten years while paying a big fee, you know that feeling in your stomach. (If that's you, read why smart people lose money in the stock market first. It wasn't your fault.)
So the comparison most people make in their heads is unfair. They compare a house they can see with stock picking they got burned by.
That is the wrong fight. The fair fight is an average Malaysian house against a low-cost index fund that simply owns the 500 largest US companies, the S&P 500. No stock picking. No tips. Just the whole market.
That's the fight we ran.
How we ran a fair fight
Comparisons like this are easy to rig. Pick a lucky start year, ignore costs on one side, forget the currency, and you can "prove" anything. So we set some rules first.
The rules
Same 20 years for both. End of 2005 to end of 2025. That covers the 2008 crash, the 2010 to 2014 Malaysian property boom, the slow years after it, COVID, and the 2022 sell-off.
Everything in ringgit. A Malaysian earns, spends and retires in ringgit. So we converted the S&P 500 at Bank Negara's year-end exchange rates, from RM3.78 per US dollar at the end of 2005 to about RM4.06 at the end of 2025.
Property uses the official index. We used the Malaysian House Price Index compiled by NAPIC (the National Property Information Centre, part of JPPH), as published through the Bank for International Settlements. It tracks the price of a "typical" house of the same quality over time, so it isn't skewed just because newer homes are bigger.
Stocks use total return. The S&P 500 figures include dividends reinvested. Then we subtracted about 0.35% a year to cover what a Malaysian really loses: a low fund fee plus the 15% US tax taken from dividends inside an Ireland-domiciled fund.
Rent is counted honestly. House prices alone ignore rent, which is unfair to property. So we also show property with a 3.5% net rental yield: the rent you actually keep after vacancy, repairs, maintenance fees, quit rent, assessment, insurance and agent fees.
EPF as a referee. We added EPF's declared dividends as a third line, because for most Malaysians EPF is the "do nothing" alternative.
Where that 3.5% net yield comes from
Global Property Guide puts Malaysia's average gross rental yield at 5.27% in early 2026. It notes that net yields, what you really earn, are typically around 1.5 to 2 percentage points lower.
So 5.3% gross minus about 1.8% of costs gives roughly 3.5% net. That's a fair middle estimate. We'll test higher and lower numbers later, because, as you'll see, this one number decides the whole contest.
Round 1: Cash vs cash, RM100,000 for 20 years
Imagine two people at the end of 2005. Each has RM100,000 in cash.
One buys an average house outright. The other buys an S&P 500 index fund. Neither borrows. Both hold for 20 years.
Here's where each one finished.
Where the RM100,000 went | Worth at end of 2025 | Yearly return |
|---|---|---|
S&P 500 index fund (in ringgit, after est. costs) | RM793,000 | 10.9% |
Average Malaysian house + 3.5% net rent | RM546,000 | 8.9% |
EPF (conventional dividends) | RM313,000 | 5.9% |
Average Malaysian house, price only | RM284,000 | 5.4% |
Inflation (what RM100,000 needed to become) | RM153,000 | 2.2% |
Three things jump out.
No. 1: Property did its job. Price alone beat inflation by about 3 percentage points a year. With rent, it nearly matched what many professional funds deliver. Your uncle wasn't wrong. Property made people richer.
No. 2: The S&P 500 did it better. Even after losing some to costs and taxes, the index fund ended about RM247,000 ahead of the house-with-rent. That's not a rounding error. It's another house.
No. 3: Price-only charts mislead. If you see a chart showing Malaysian house prices "only" doubling or tripling, remember the rent. Rent turned a 5.4% asset into an 8.9% asset. Anyone comparing property to stocks without rent is cheating against property.
What this means for you: If you have cash and no loan, history favours the index fund by a wide margin, and it asks nothing of you. No tenants, no repairs, no 3 a.m. phone calls about a burst pipe. If you want to see what steady monthly investing does over time, see what RM500 a month in an S&P 500 fund becomes. |
Round 2: Two decades that tell opposite stories
Twenty-year averages hide something important. When we split the period in half, the winner changes.
Yearly return | 2005 to 2015 | 2015 to 2025 |
|---|---|---|
S&P 500 in ringgit (after est. costs) | 8.2% | 13.6% |
Malaysian house + 3.5% net rent | 10.7% | 7.0% |
Malaysian house, price only | 7.2% | 3.5% |
EPF | 5.9% | 5.9% |
2005 to 2015: the golden decade for Malaysian property
From the end of 2005 to the end of 2015, the house price index roughly doubled. Add rent, and property returned about 10.7% a year.
The S&P 500, meanwhile, had to climb out of the 2008 crash. In US dollars it returned about 7.2% a year. In ringgit it did a little better, because the ringgit weakened late in the decade.
If you bought property in Malaysia in 2005, you probably remember this decade fondly. You should. It was excellent.
But part of the boom was borrowed from the future. The Edge's "Tong's Portfolio" column has written about the Developer Interest Bearing Scheme (DIBS), introduced in 2009, which let developers absorb buyers' interest during construction. It boosted demand and, the column argues, artificially inflated prices. DIBS was abolished in Budget 2014, demand promptly collapsed, and the steep 2012 to 2015 price gains turned out to be "pulled forward".
2015 to 2025: the decade property slowed down
From the end of 2015 to the end of 2025, Malaysian house prices rose only about 3.5% a year. That's barely 1.7% a year above inflation. The Edge's analysis found that "same house" prices in the Klang Valley actually fell between 2017 and 2022.
The S&P 500 went the other way, returning about 13.6% a year in ringgit after costs. RM100,000 in property with rent became about RM197,000. The same money in the index fund became about RM359,000.
The lesson: Property's best decade in Malaysia came with special help: cheap credit, a speculation scheme and a once-in-a-generation boom. Anyone who expects the next 20 years to look like 2005 to 2015 is betting on that help coming back. Nobody knows which decade comes next. That's exactly why spreading your bets matters. For a reminder that even the S&P 500 can have a long, painful stretch, read what happened in Japan's 34-year wait. |
Round 3: Property's secret weapon, the bank loan
So far, this looks like an easy win for the index fund. But that's not how most Malaysians buy property.
Most people don't pay cash. They put down 10%, borrow 90% from the bank, and let the tenant help pay the loan. That's leverage, and it changes everything.
Here's a fair way to test it. We followed a buyer through every ringgit, and we gave a second investor exactly the same cash flows into the S&P 500. Every time the property owner topped up the loan, the index investor put the same amount into the fund. Every time the rent left spare cash, the index investor took the same amount out.
Same money in. Same money out. Who has more at the end?
Worked example: the 2005 buyer
In 2005, NAPIC reported that the average Malaysian house cost about RM160,000. So our buyer:
puts down RM16,000 (10%) and pays about RM6,000 in stamp duty and legal fees
borrows RM144,000 over 30 years at an average 4.5% interest, so the instalment is about RM730 a month
keeps rent at a 3.5% net yield, rising as the house value rises
sells at the end of 2025, paying about 3% in agent and legal fees, and no RPGT (Malaysian citizens pay 0% from the sixth year)
In the early years, rent didn't cover the loan. The owner topped up about RM3,200 in year one, less each year after. From 2013 onwards, rising rent covered the instalment with cash to spare.
2005 buyer, 20 years | Property with 90% loan | S&P 500, same cash flows |
|---|---|---|
Cash put in at the start | RM22,000 | RM22,000 |
Extra top-ups, 2006 to 2012 | about RM16,300 | RM16,300 |
Spare cash taken out, 2013 to 2025 | about RM49,900 | RM49,900 |
Loan still owing at end of 2025 | about RM70,400 | none |
What you keep at end of 2025 | about RM370,000 | about RM221,000 |
Return on your own money | about 14.2% a year |
The 2005 property buyer wins by about RM149,000.
Why? Because the bank's money did most of the work. The house rose about 2.8 times in value, but the buyer only put in a small slice of the price. Every ringgit the house gained went to the owner, not the bank.
Worked example: the 2015 buyer
Now the same plan, ten years later. A buyer at the end of 2015 picks up a RM400,000 home with 10% down, about RM15,000 in costs, and a RM360,000 loan at 4.5%. That's about RM1,820 a month.
With prices growing only about 3.5% a year, the rent never caught up with the instalment in ten years. The owner kept topping up, about RM51,700 in total on top of the RM55,000 at the start.
2015 buyer, 10 years | Property with 90% loan | S&P 500, same cash flows |
|---|---|---|
Cash put in at the start | RM55,000 | RM55,000 |
Extra top-ups, 2016 to 2025 | about RM51,700 | RM51,700 |
Loan still owing at end of 2025 | about RM288,000 | none |
What you keep at end of 2025 | about RM259,000 | about RM309,000 |
This time the index fund wins by about RM50,000, even though the property buyer used the bank's money.
The honest scorecard: Out of four matchups, property won one: the 2005 buyer who used a 90% loan. The index fund won the other three, including both cash purchases and the 2015 loan buyer. Leverage can make property a winner, but only when prices rise fast enough and rent covers most of the loan. |
Why we didn't give the index investor a loan too
You might ask: "Isn't that unfair? Why not let the stock investor borrow 90% as well?"
Because in real life, that would be reckless. In 2008 the S&P 500 fell about 34% in ringgit. A 90% loan on shares would have been wiped out, with the bank selling you out at the bottom.
A house loan is different. The bank can't sell your home because its price dipped on paper, as long as you keep paying. That patience is property's real superpower. It's also why the property buyer's biggest risk isn't the price. It's losing your income and missing payments.
The one number that decides the winner: your net rental yield
We reran the 2005 and 2015 loan scenarios with different net rental yields. Everything else stayed the same. This is the most useful table in this article.
Net rental yield you keep | 2005 loan buyer | 2015 loan buyer |
|---|---|---|
2.0% | S&P 500 wins | S&P 500 wins |
2.5% | S&P 500 wins | S&P 500 wins |
3.0% | Property wins | S&P 500 wins |
3.5% | Property wins | S&P 500 wins |
4.0% | Property wins | S&P 500 wins (just) |
4.5% | Property wins | Property wins |
In plain words:
In a boom like 2005 to 2015, property with a loan beat the index fund if you kept about 2.8% net or more.
In a slow market like 2015 to 2025, you needed about 4.1% net or more, roughly 5.6% to 6% gross, to come out ahead.
Now compare that with reality. The national average gross yield is about 5.3%. That's around 3.5% net. Many city condos earn less, especially in oversupplied areas.
Your 5-minute check: Take the yearly rent on a property you own or are looking at. Subtract one month for vacancy, plus maintenance fees, quit rent, assessment, insurance, repairs and agent fees. Divide what's left by the property price. If the answer is under 3%, the numbers say an index fund would very likely have served you better. If it's above 4.5%, property can genuinely compete. |
Gross vs net: the trap in every sales brochure
Developers and agents quote gross yield: yearly rent divided by price. That number looks great.
But you don't get gross yield. You get what's left after:
Vacancy. Even one empty month a year cuts your rent by 8%.
Maintenance fees and sinking fund. For condos, often hundreds of ringgit a month.
Quit rent and assessment. Every year, tenant or no tenant.
Repairs. Air-conditioners, water heaters, paint, plumbing.
Agent fees. Often one month's rent for each new tenancy.
Income tax. Rental income is taxable in Malaysia.
That's how a 5% brochure yield quietly becomes 3% in your bank account.
The ringgit factor nobody talks about
When you buy the S&P 500, you're also buying US dollars. That cuts both ways.
From the end of 2005 to the end of 2025, the ringgit moved from RM3.78 to about RM4.06 per US dollar. That's a small net change, but the ride in between was wild: the ringgit strengthened to around RM3.06 by 2012, weakened to about RM4.30 by the end of 2015, and touched about RM4.59 at the end of 2023.
Then in 2025, Bank Negara reported that the ringgit appreciated 10.2% against the US dollar. Good news for Malaysians travelling abroad. Not so good for anyone holding US assets: the S&P 500 gained 17.7% in US dollars that year, but only about 6.9% in ringgit. More than half the gain disappeared in the currency conversion.
So here's the fair way to think about it:
Property is a pure ringgit asset. If the ringgit is strong, you're fine. If it weakens for years, your house can't protect you.
The S&P 500 is a US dollar asset. It protects you when the ringgit weakens and hurts you when it strengthens.
For someone who will retire in Malaysia, owning some of both is a quiet form of insurance. You don't need to guess which way the ringgit goes.
What the averages hide: you can't buy "the index"
Here's the biggest weakness of every property chart, including ours.
The house price index is an average of thousands of homes across the country. You can't buy the average. You buy one house, in one street, from one developer.
Some did far better than the index. Some did far worse.
Forest City: when "can't lose" lost
Forest City in Johor was announced as a giant development of four reclaimed islands. According to Al Jazeera, it was supposed to house 700,000 people by 2035. By late 2023, the developer itself estimated a population of about 9,000, and around 80% of them were tenants.
Many buyers paid premium prices expecting the area to boom. It didn't, at least not on their timeline. Their property didn't follow the national index. It followed Forest City.
Oversupply is still real
The market is not one market. In the second half of 2025, a REHDA survey of 166 developers in Peninsular Malaysia found that 17,971 residential units were launched, but only 3,784 were sold. That's a take-up rate of about 21%.
When too many similar units sit unsold nearby, your rent and resale price both feel it.
The S&P 500 doesn't have this problem. When you buy an index fund, you really do get the average: all 500 companies, automatically updated. No single bad pick can sink you. That's the core idea in why the world's greatest stock picker tells ordinary people not to pick stocks. |
Hidden costs on both sides
Both investments cost more than the headline. Here's an honest side-by-side for a Malaysian buyer today.
Cost | Investment property | S&P 500 index fund |
|---|---|---|
To buy | Stamp duty on transfer (1% to 4% tiers), loan stamp duty 0.5%, legal fees: often 4% to 5% of the price | Broker fee and currency conversion: often under 0.5% |
Every year | Maintenance, quit rent, assessment, insurance, repairs, vacancy | Fund fee, about 0.07% for large Irish-domiciled funds |
Tax on income | Rental income taxed at your income tax rate | 15% US tax on dividends inside an Irish-domiciled fund (30% if you hold US-listed funds directly) |
Tax when you sell | RPGT: 30% in years 1 to 3, 20% in year 4, 15% in year 5, 0% from year 6 for citizens and PRs | Foreign-sourced income received by Malaysian individuals is exempt until 31 December 2036 |
To sell | Agent fee, often 2% to 3%, plus legal fees and months of waiting | Seconds, for a small broker fee |
Hidden risk | Interest-rate rises, bad tenants, oversupply nearby | US estate tax above US$60,000 if you hold US-listed funds directly |
That last row matters. If you buy US-listed funds like VOO directly, your family could face US estate tax when you die. Using an Ireland-domiciled fund avoids that and halves the dividend tax. We explain both in CSPX vs VOO, the 30% dividend tax you didn't know you pay, and the US estate tax trap for non-residents.
On the property side, first-time buyers may qualify for stamp duty exemptions on lower-priced homes. These rules change with each Budget, so check the current terms with your lawyer before you sign.
Risk you can feel vs risk you can see
Why does property feel so much safer, even when the numbers favour the index fund?
Look at 2008.
In 2008, the S&P 500 fell about 34% in ringgit. Malaysia's house price index rose about 2.5% over the same year, and its worst quarter dipped less than 2%.
Was property really that much safer? Partly, yes. Malaysian house prices are genuinely less jumpy than shares. But partly it's an illusion. Your house has no price on a screen. Nobody tells you every day what a desperate buyer would pay for it this week.
If you had to sell your house in a hurry in early 2009, during a crisis, with banks tightening loans, you might have found out what it was "really" worth that day. Shares just show you that number every day.
Both kinds of risk are real:
Shares have price risk you can see. The index can fall 30% or more, and has. The cure is time: over every 20-year period in modern history, the S&P 500 has never lost money, which we showed in has the S&P 500 ever lost money over 20 years.
Property has risks you feel later: a tenant who stops paying, an interest rate rise, a job loss while you still owe the bank, an area that never takes off, or a sale that takes a year.
The worst outcome for a property investor isn't a price dip. It's being forced to sell during one.
If you've ever panicked and sold shares in a crash, that's normal. It's also the single most expensive mistake an index investor can make. Read what calm investors do when the market drops 20% before the next one comes.
What the spreadsheets miss
Numbers don't decide everything. Here are the things a fair comparison must admit.
Your own home is different
Everything above is about investment property. The house you live in is another matter. It gives you a roof, stability for your family and freedom from rising rent. Paying off your own home before retirement is one of the best things many people over 40 can do. Don't sell the roof over your head to buy an index fund because of a chart.
Property forces you to save
A housing loan is a monthly commitment you can't easily skip. For many families, that forced discipline is the real reason property made them rich. You can copy that with an index fund by setting up an automatic monthly investment and never touching it.
Property is a part-time job
Finding tenants, handling repairs, chasing late rent, dealing with management bodies. Some people enjoy this. Many don't. An index fund needs about one hour a year.
Property is hard to split
You can't sell 10% of a condo when you need RM30,000 for medical bills at 68. You can sell 10% of an index fund in minutes. In retirement, that flexibility matters a lot. It's why tools like the 4% rule work with funds but not with a single house.
So which one should you choose?
For most people over 40, it isn't really "either or". It's "how much of each, and in what order".
Investment property suits you if...
you can find homes that keep 4% net or more after every cost
you have stable income that could cover the loan for a year with no tenant
your loan would still be affordable if interest rates rose by 2 percentage points
you enjoy, or will pay someone for, managing tenants and repairs
you plan to hold for at least 6 years (to avoid RPGT) and ideally much longer
An S&P 500 index fund suits you if...
you want growth without managing anything
you'd rather start with RM500 a month than a RM50,000 down payment
you want to be able to sell part of it in retirement
you can stay invested through a 30% fall without selling
you want some protection if the ringgit weakens
Many people do both
A common, sensible order looks like this: emergency savings first, EPF steady in the background, your own home if you need one, then a low-cost index fund for long-term growth. Investment property comes last, and only if the rental numbers truly work. If you're unsure how the S&P 500 compares with simply leaving money in EPF, see EPF vs the S&P 500.
What to do tonight
Write down your real net yield. For any property you own or are eyeing, use the 5-minute check above. Be honest about vacancy and repairs.
Stress-test your loan. Ask: could I pay this instalment for 12 months with no tenant? Could I pay it if rates rose 2 points?
Count your property share. Add up how much of your total wealth is in property. If it's 80% or 90%, you're betting almost everything on one country, one currency and a few streets.
Check your fees. If you already hold unit trusts, compare their yearly fees with a low-cost index fund. See unit trust vs ETF in Malaysia.
Learn the simple path. If you'd like to start with an index fund, follow our step-by-step guide on how to invest in the S&P 500 from Malaysia.
Start small, and keep going. If the stock market burned you before, don't jump back in with everything at once. Read lump sum or monthly after a big loss and start slowly.
Frequently asked questions
Is property or stocks better in Malaysia?
Over 2005 to 2025, an S&P 500 index fund beat Malaysian property cash for cash: RM100,000 grew to about RM793,000 versus about RM546,000 for a house with rent. Property bought with a 90% loan won only when prices rose fast and net rent stayed above about 3%.
Is property still a good investment in Malaysia?
It can be, but the easy years look over. From 2015 to 2025, Malaysian house prices rose only about 3.5% a year, close to inflation plus 1.7%. Property now needs a strong net rental yield, roughly 4% or more, to compete with a low-cost index fund.
What is a good rental yield in Malaysia?
The national average gross yield is about 5.3%. After vacancy, maintenance, quit rent, assessment, repairs and agent fees, that's usually around 3% to 3.8% net. A net yield above 4% is good; below 3% is weak compared with a low-cost index fund.
Why do Malaysian property charts look better than they really are?
Many charts quote gross rent and ignore buying, holding and selling costs. Others show price gains with a bank loan but compare them with stocks bought in cash. A fair comparison uses net rent and gives both sides the same money in and out.
Does the ringgit affect S&P 500 returns for Malaysians?
Yes. A stronger ringgit cuts your S&P 500 returns in ringgit, and a weaker ringgit boosts them. In 2025 the ringgit rose 10.2% against the US dollar, so the index's 17.7% gain in US dollars became only about 6.9% for Malaysian investors.
Should I sell my house to buy an S&P 500 index fund?
Not your own home. A home you live in gives stability that no chart measures. For an investment property with weak net rent, it may be worth comparing, but consider RPGT, selling costs and timing first, and speak with a licensed adviser before acting.
Can I invest in the S&P 500 with less money than a property deposit?
Yes. Many brokers let Malaysians buy S&P 500 funds with a few hundred ringgit, and you can invest monthly. A property usually needs a 10% down payment plus 4% to 5% in stamp duty and legal fees before you collect any rent.
The bottom line
Your uncle was half right. Malaysian property did make people richer over the last 20 years, and with a bank loan in a boom, it made some people very rich.
But cash for cash, an S&P 500 index fund did far better, in ringgit, after costs, with no tenants and no repairs. And in the slower decade from 2015 to 2025, even a leveraged property buyer fell behind.
The best part is this: you don't need a RM50,000 deposit, a 30-year loan or a good tenant to own the world's biggest companies. You need a low-cost fund, a monthly habit and the patience to let time do its work.
If you've been burned by the stock market before, that's not a reason to stay out forever. It's a reason to do it differently this time.
Get the free report. In Why You Lost Money in the Stock Market (And Why It Wasn't Your Fault), a free 38-page guide, you'll discover:
the hidden traps that cost everyday investors their savings, and how to spot them
why chasing tips and "safe" stocks keeps people stuck
the simple, low-cost approach that lets you invest without stress
how to start again calmly, even after a big loss
About the author: Stephen Loke has been a student of the market for more than 15 years. He is also an agritourism entrepreneur whose farm has been featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. This article is general education, not personal financial advice. I'm not a licensed financial adviser. Past returns do not guarantee future returns. The property scenarios use stated assumptions (4.5% loan rate, 3.5% net rental yield, 3% selling costs), and your own results will differ. Please consider your own situation and speak with a licensed professional before making investment decisions. |
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