Affordable Housing Accessibility and Its Impact on Young Professional Retention in Johor: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Housing affordability has emerged as a critical determinant of locational choice, quality of life, and labour market stability among young professionals in rapidly urbanising Malaysian regions. Johor, as a strategic growth corridor bordering Singapore, faces escalating housing costs alongside ambitious state-level affordable housing initiatives such as Rumah Mampu Milik Johor (RMMJ) and selected PR1MA projects. This systematic literature review synthesises empirical and conceptual studies published between 2010 and 2025 on housing affordability and accessibility in Malaysia, young professionals' housing pathways and preferences, and the relationship between housing affordability and talent retention, with particular focus on implications for Johor. Following a PRISMA-informed search strategy, databases including Scopus, Web of Science (WOS), Planning Malaysia, Science Direct (SD) and HRMARS were systematically searched using keywords related to "affordable housing", "young professionals", "housing pathways", "labour retention", and "Johor". Twenty-five (25) core studies were identified and thematically analysed, predominantly centred on Greater Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley, with limited direct evidence from Johor. Theoretically, the review is anchored in housing pathways theory, residual income approaches to affordability, human capital theory, and urban amenity-led retention frameworks. Findings suggest that young professionals face growing affordability gaps despite rising qualifications and income, state schemes such as RMMJ improve nominal access but may not align with young professionals' locational, tenure, and lifestyle preferences, and perceived housing (un)affordability interacts with cross-border employment prospects to shape retention decisions in Johor. This review proposes a conceptual framework linking housing accessibility, perceived life-course security, and young professional retention, and identifies critical gaps relating to Johor-specific empirical evidence, longitudinal research designs, and integrated labour market and housing policy analysis. For policymakers, the findings underscore the need to reframe affordable housing policy not merely as social welfare intervention but as strategic human capital retention infrastructure.