Understanding the Housing Acquisition Behavior of Muslim Generation Y in Malaysia: A Conceptual Framework Based on ABC Theory

Abstract

House is the most important basic need for the human survival, however many people especially those who are categorised in the category of generation Y do not acquire a house due to various factors (internal salient belief factors, personal factor, and extra factor). In accordance, the volume of residential transaction and homeownership rate among youths in Malaysia has been decreasing for the past few years. It is proven as the number of residential property transaction has dropped from 272,669 transactions in 2012 to 250,586 transactions in 2023. Thus, it is important to examine the behavior of generation Y towards house acquisition in Malaysia. This study focuses on Muslim Generation Y in West Malaysia, specifically on those who have purchased a home and those who have not. The research proposes to examine the internal salient belief factors (attitude and perceived religiosity on property), personal factors (lifestyles) as well as external factors (house features, house location, financing factors, and government support) in influencing house acquisition behavior among Muslim Generation Y in Malaysia. As such, this study proposes to adapt Attitude-Behavior-Context (ABC) theory in discovering the behavior.