Cost of Living in Malaysia (KL)
Sometime back there was an article in TMR that pondered on the cost of living in KL is RM3,300 monthly. (You can read it here) That got me wondering… is it really?
It’s always a sensitive topic when we touch on a topic such as this, so it’s good to set some expectations and assumptions. There is a variety and range of lifestyle that can affect the cost of living that is specific to each person. However, let’s keep this within reasonable means.
Scenario: Single professional living in KL by him/herself with a job that requires occasional travelling
If you’d like to jump straight to the summary, feel free to go to the last section of this sharing.
Now let’s get to it.
1: Stay
The biggest 1-ticket expense for a person is typically putting a roof over his/her head – be it rented or owned.
To get a gauge for this, we look to the largest property listing company in Malaysia – PropertyGuru.com.my (Side note: INYMI, PropertyGuru acquired a stake in iProperty recently. Now they are the biggest in Malaysia!)
Rental
I performed a search of condomimiums with a size of 500sqft – 750sqft in Kuala Lumpur.
- Rental for the cheapest rundown flat costs upwards of RM600
- Keeping the rentals within RM1,000 – RM1,500 fetches more decent looking units, but I stumbled upon weird stuff (e.g. 3 full pages of units in the same property)
- Beyond RM2,000 will be so much nicer…
Here are some snapshots of the search to show side-by-side comparisons (click in to enlarge):
Yes, renting a room may be an option and that will be a lot cheaper than renting / owning a studio unit by itself. But no, renting a room is typically short term in nature, so we’ll look at something more permanent for the mid to long term.
Own / buy
On the other hand, if we’re talking about buying a place with the same parameters for size:
- Ridiculous priced ones have below RM50k or even below RM100k, but I question the authenticity and/or the condition of the place (Monthly mortgage below RM500)
- There are a few decent looking ones priced between RM200k – RM300k, however the locations aren’t exactly the best. Furthermore, there needs to be a lot of extra effort to find genuine ones (did I mention how much I hate property agents because most of them have no integrity and morale?) (Monthly mortgage RM800 – RM1,200)
- At above RM300k, there are far more decent selections at decent locations in KL (Monthly mortgage above RM1,200)
An additional cost to this is the management fee as we’re talking about a condomimium here. Estimating at RM0.25 per sqft, that would come up to an additional RM125 – RM188 monthly.
Check out the snapshot (click in to enlarge):
Conclusion
Whether it is rent / buy, it seems like the monthly commitment for a decent looking place at a decent looking location will not be able to run too far from RM1,000 – RM2,000.
1.1: Staying expenses
What I’m referring to are mainly utilities and other living expenses related to the housing.
A simple estimate of these as follows:
- Electricity = RM120
- Water = RM30
- Internet = RM150
- Misc = RM200
Misc is a buffer fund for random stuff such as subscriptions, repairs, pest control, etc…
These expense total around RM500.
2: Transport
Unless we’re going to stay at home for life or resort to only walking, we’re going to need to consider means of transportation. This is for work, for leisure, for social.
Car
As far as I know, it is very challenging for Malaysians to get to places if they don’t have their own car. Not impossible, but challenging.
And as far as a car is concerned, let’s benchmark using Malaysia’s favourite car – Perodua Myvi. I swear that when you drive on the road or enter a car park, Myvis (Yes, plural) will be lurking there.
The on-the-road pricing (OTR) without insurance [Auto transmissions only] ranges from RM43k to RM53k, as extracted from their website. This translates to a monthly loan repayment of RM470 – RM600 for a 9 year tenure & 10% downpayment. Let’s assume we stretch it to the maximum tenure to minimise our monthly commitments.
No, it doesn’t stop there. This is where we talk about the ancillary costs to owning a car (on a monthly basis):
- Insurance & road tax = RM100 – RM200
- Petrol = RM100 – RM200
- Car maintenance / service = RM50 (will increase as the car ages)
- Parking = RM150 (RM5 per day for work * 5 days * 4 weeks + RM50 buffer)
- Toll = RM20 (This varies depending on driver)
The total from monthly ancillary costs come up to be RM400 – RM500 per month. Added on to the loan repayment, the monthly cost to own a Perodua Myvi comes up to be around RM1,000.
Adjust as you see fit depending on the car you have.
Motorcycle
Yes, we can get a bike for a cheap price at below even RM5,000, but let’s be real, we all need a car in Malaysia because it is hot (sweat) and it rains (all wet) all year round.
Taxi / Ride hailing & public transport
Definitely the cheapest option for transportation as it is only payable when required.
However, the hassle here comes from:
- Need to properly plan the journey ahead
- Time taken to travel from A to B
- May need to switch between transportations to get to one place (we have LRT [3 lines], MRT [2 lines], monorail [1 very short line], KTM [3 lines])
- At the mercy of any nonsense that happens (driver late, cannot find driver, train delay *hint* KTM *hint*, etc)
- Weather dependent (specifically for public transport)
Currently, there is a 30-day pass that goes for RM30 now and can be used for all rail (MRT, LRT, Monorail), BRT, Rapid KL buses and MRT feeder buses (Link here). Not sure if this is here to stay.
If it is, then the cost of transportation is only RM30 per month + RM50 maybe for taxi / ride hailing to other unreachable places (which is a lot). A total of only RM80 per month.
Conclusion
Between the choice of owning a car and taking “all means necessary”, I’ll pick a car. The cost also differs by a lot – RM1,000 vs RM80 per month. But hey, I ain’t compromising on quality of life, right?
3: Food
Malaysia’s favourite and also a daily necessity in life – Food (& drinks)!
There is such a wide range when it comes to the cost of food.
- Basic nasi lemak: RM1.50
- Roti canai: RM1.70
- Chicken rice: RM5
- Economy rice: RM6 – RM8
- Big Mac: RM16
- Pasta: RM20
- Steak: RM35
- Steak: RM300 (no, not typo)
It really depends on where and what Malaysians choose to eat. There is also the choice of getting groceries and cooking.
So for this section, let us all assume daily food intake from economy rice and the very occasional splurging. That would work out to be about RM560 (RM6 * 2 * 30 = RM360 + RM200 splurge top up). Oh yes, I’m assuming we’re skipping breakfast / making own breakfast at home.
4: The Others
After accounting for the major trio items as above, the rest of the expenses are generally much more flexible. A few general items that I’d like to touch on:
Insurance
Whilst not directly affecting our lives in any immediate way, insurance is also prevalent in most Malaysian’s list of expenses. The premiums that are paid for both life and medical insurance will greatly vary depending on the coverage and belief of each person.
I’ll make an assumption of RM250 per month (RM3,000 per year) for our case study and this should be a decent insurance coverage for both life and medical. This is also the max that we can claim for tax relief under medical insurance.
Phone Bill
A necessity nowadays and cost varies across different telco. Just taking the basic postpaid plan from each of the telco:
- Maxis – RM98
- Digi – RM40
- Celcom – RM98
- UMobile – RM80
Misc.
The general everything else goes in here basket. What might come under this? Here are a few things I can think of with a low cost estimate:
- Groceries budget for snacks / breakfast / drinks / etc (RM100)
- Grooming services (RM30)
- Toiletries (RM20)
- Dental (RM30)
- Entertainment – movie, music, etc (RM30)
- Shopping (RM200 – i.e. RM2,400 per year for ALL shopping)
- Emergency/buffer (RM200)
Sum It All Up
Here’s the breakdown and summary of all that was discussed above.
| Living Expenses | Monthly Cost (in RM) |
|---|---|
| Housing | RM1,800 |
| Housing Expenses | RM500 |
| Car | RM1,000 |
| Food | RM560 |
| Others – Insurance | RM250 |
| Others – Phone bill | RM80 |
| Others – Misc | RM600 |
The total is…. RM4,790
Ok, ok. Let’s say we don’t get a car. That’s still RM3,870 (minus RM1,000, plus RM80 transportation cost).
Mind you, the items above are pretty basic and I might have even missed out some items. This amount also assumes only RM200 as buffer for any surprises (because there will be surprises).
It definitely isn’t RM3,300, but is it considered expensive? I leave it up to you to decide, but BTM thinks that the cost of living is high given the amount of income that we make in Malaysia. That’s why so many resort to side hustles and other ways to generate income in order to keep afloat.
This concludes the 1st part of a 3-part series that I’ll be doing. Stay tuned for next weekend as I take this topic further by discussing about the 2 level ups in terms of cost of living!
