A study to explore the knowledge, attitude, and practice in the urea of housing and household equipment of housewives of Malay and Chinese origin was carried out in the city of Kuala Lumpur in November 1977. Slightly more than half of the households were renters of which two-thirds were Chinese and one-third were Malays. Of those who owned houses only 44 indicated taking a housing loan. Reasons for choice of house location indicated that preferences were determined mainly by convenience and economic justification approximately half of the respondents stated that their houses required improvement; the majority indicated improvement to be in the form of additional rooms or general repairs. Most of the respondents also specified the living, kitchen and bedroom as the areas which required improvement. In the kitchen, however, slightly more than half of the respondents felt the need for additional storage space or redecoration. With regard to utility goods more than half of the households owned refrigerators; slightly less than half owned gas cookers and kerosene cookers.