This is because property developers are carrying out aggressive marketing efforts, in particular for properties in the “international zone”.

“They do weekly promotions, especially targeted at buyers from China,” The Sun daily quoted him as saying recently.

As, such, he said Johor would maintain the current RM1 million minimum purchase price for foreign property ownership.

In 2014, the federal government set a minimum RM1 million as the property price for foreigners to ensure it does not affect the number of houses available for locals, and also to keep control of foreigners buying properties.

“We have set up a committee to discuss luxury property issues in the state. The committee will be headed by Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin and other related agencies,” Jais said.

A recent Bank Negara Malaysia report said Johor had the highest number of unsold homes in the country at 27% of the 130,690 units priced above RM250,000.

Jais said the 27% was inclusive of service apartments and SoHo units. The state, he added, classified these units as commercial units, not residential.

As such, he said, Johor only had 3,803 unsold residential units and the majority were located in the international zone.

In contrast, he pointed out, Kedah had 4,363 of unsold residential units.

There is concern over the oversupply of properties in the country and that new major developments over the next few years will add to this.