Minimum Property Price for Foreign Buyers

What this minimum property price for foreigners Malaysia guide covers

A purchase by a non-citizen has to clear a minimum price. Below it, the State Authority will not approve the transfer, and nothing in the agreement can fix that. It is the cheapest of all the checks to run and the most expensive one to get wrong.

Where the threshold comes from

There are two layers. The federal layer is the Ministry of Economy guideline on the acquisition of property, which sets a baseline minimum of RM1,000,000 for most categories of residential property.

The state layer sits on top. Each State Authority may set its own figure, and several set it higher than the federal baseline. The state figure is the one that decides your transaction, because consent under section 433B is a state decision.

Why we do not publish a state by state table

You will find plenty of tables online listing a figure for every state. Many are out of date, and they disagree with each other on the detail that matters most, such as whether a threshold applies to landed property, to strata only, or differently by zone within the same state.

Selangor is the clearest example. It applies thresholds by zone rather than one figure statewide, with the more developed districts carrying a higher minimum than the outer ones. Published sources agree that the developed zones sit above the federal baseline, and disagree on whether landed property is available to a non-citizen at all in some of them.

We are not going to put a number on this page that could be wrong when you read it. What we do instead is confirm the figure in force against the current state circular before you make an offer. That check costs nothing and it takes a day.

What the threshold applies to

The threshold is measured against the purchase price or the market value, and the higher one governs, in the same way stamp duty is assessed. A price written low on the agreement to slip under a stamp duty band does not lower the threshold and it creates a separate problem with the valuation.

Thresholds also commonly differ between residential, commercial and industrial property, with the commercial and industrial figures set higher.

Where the threshold is not the issue

Some property is closed to a non-citizen at any price. Malay reserve land, Bumiputera allocated units and low cost housing are not a question of paying more. Neither is agricultural land in most states.

A land search settles all of this at the same time as the threshold question, which is why it belongs before the booking form and not after.

What to do with this before you offer

Get the title details from the agent, not a description of the property. The state, district and mukim on the title, and the land use category, are what determine which threshold and which restrictions apply.

Send them to us and we will tell you within a day whether the property clears, whether it is capable of consent, and what your section 433B application will look like. See also our page on conveyancing for foreign buyers for how the rest of the matter runs.

Frequently asked questions about minimum property price for foreigners Malaysia