Malaysia grows 6 per cent as housing demand weakens in Australia and Türkiye
Malaysia's economy grew 6 per cent in the second quarter. Meanwhile, investor housing loans in Australia fell 10.2 per cent and home sales in Türkiye dropped 17 per cent; headline growth did not erase housing weakness.
Economics & Markets··Midday
Malaysia's 6 per cent quarter
Bank Negara Malaysia reported that the economy grew 6 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier, carried by household spending, investment and exports of electrical and electronic goods. Headline inflation rose to 1.9 per cent from 1.6 per cent in the first quarter, while core inflation fell to 1.9 per cent from 2.1 per cent. Governor Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said growth in 2026 is projected to stay within the forecast range of 4 per cent to 5 per cent, with recent indicators pointing to around 5 per cent. Headline inflation is expected to average between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent for the year. The release pairs a strong quarterly expansion with a narrow inflation band. In the same news stretch, Australia's June-quarter housing-loan commitments and Türkiye's July home sales arrived as separate measures of cooler household and investor appetite for property.[1]
Loans cool in Australia, sales in Türkiye
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said new housing loan commitments fell 5.4 per cent in number and 5.2 per cent in value in the June quarter, with the drop concentrated among investors. The seasonally adjusted total was 134,225 commitments worth 97.6 billion Australian dollars. Investor numbers fell 8.6 per cent on the quarter and their value 10.2 per cent, while owner-occupier numbers fell 3.3 per cent and their value 1.9 per cent. Over the year the total value was still 6.8 per cent higher. First home buyer commitments fell 2.9 per cent in number while their value rose 0.2 per cent. In Türkiye, according to TÜİK as reported by Cumhuriyet, 123,603 homes were sold in July and sales fell 17 per cent from a year earlier, while sales financed with a mortgage rose 23.7 per cent to 23,888. First-hand sales fell 8.6 per cent to 42,529 and made up 34.4 per cent of the total; second-hand sales fell 20.8 per cent to 81,074. Sales to foreign buyers rose 1.9 per cent to 2,120, led by Russia with 394, Iran with 189 and Ukraine with 145. In the first seven months sales were down 5.5 per cent at 823,119.[2], [3]
Growth and housing demand as separate measures
The three releases describe different layers of demand. Malaysia's 6 per cent second-quarter expansion is a whole-economy print built on household spending, investment and electrical-electronics exports; Bank Negara Malaysia still projects full-year growth in a 4-5 per cent band and inflation between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent. Australia's indicators isolate property finance: investor loan value fell 10.2 per cent in the June quarter even as the annual total value remained 6.8 per cent higher. In Türkiye, July sales fell 17 per cent year on year to 123,603 homes, yet mortgaged sales rose 23.7 per cent and foreign purchases rose 1.9 per cent, so financing form and buyer nationality matter as much as the headline. The sources do not assign a single cause linking the Kuala Lumpur, Sydney and Istanbul figures. They show that a strong quarterly growth print can sit beside cooler housing-finance and sales figures in the same cycle, with housing demand uneven across investor, owner-occupier, first-buyer, mortgaged and foreign segments. Readers should keep growth and housing demand on separate ledgers until a shared transmission path is reported, and treat the 10.2 per cent investor-value drop and the 17 per cent sales fall as local cooling signals.[1], [2], [3]
