Malaysia's minimum purchase price for foreigners, state by state, and how old each figure is.

Is there a minimum property price for foreigners in Malaysia?

Yes. Each state sets a minimum purchase price for a foreign buyer, and the federal property acquisition guideline sets its own benchmark of RM1,000,000 per unit. RM1,000,000 is the most common state figure. It is not the bottom of the range. On the published table the residential floors run roughly RM400,000 to RM3,000,000.

The accurate sentence is short: one million is the usual number, it is set state by state, and it moves hard in both directions. Wording such as starting at around a million is wrong, because it points at the wrong end of the range.

These floors are policy, not statute. There is no minimum purchase price anywhere in the National Land Code. Part 33A creates a consent requirement and a levy power and sets no price, which is why the figures move without any amendment to the Code. The statute side: foreign land ownership in Malaysia, explained.

Where does this table come from, and how current is it?

Every row is transcribed from the state-by-state table at the end of Bar Council Malaysia Circular No 444/2024, dated 23 December 2024, which notes immediately above the table that the information is as at October 2024. That is the most recent consolidated, named-institution, all-states table published. Floors are set by state and can change.

Read that dating literally. The figures below are the position as at October 2024, not a live 2026 quote. Two checks were made before publishing them. The Bar Council's own index of conveyancing circulars lists nothing newer than 444/2024 on this subject, and searches for a 2025 or 2026 successor circular returned only 444/2024. A named law firm published a matching state threshold table on 7 October 2024, so two sources agree on the October 2024 position.

The Bar Council attaches its own disclaimer to the table: the information is for informational purposes only, should not be considered accurate, comprehensive or authoritative, and readers are advised to consult the relevant state authority for changes to the requirements and conditions imposed on foreign acquisition. That disclaimer is the reason every figure on this page is date-stamped rather than presented as today's number.

Before you rely on a figure, confirm it with the land office or state authority of the state you are buying in. At least one row has already expired on its own terms, and several rows carry no effective date at all.

Minimum purchase price for a foreign buyer, state by state

All figures below are in ringgit and are stated as at October 2024, per Bar Council Malaysia Circular No 444/2024. Each row keeps the conditions the source attaches to it, because in several states the condition matters more than the price. Confirm any figure with that state's authority before relying on it.

Three reading notes, so the table is not misread:

• Where a cell reads not stated, the source gives no figure for that combination. It does not default to RM1,000,000.
• Perak's entries in the form 700,000 > 2,000,000 are transcribed exactly as printed. The source does not explain the notation, so do not read a Perak band as a single minimum.
• The RM1,000,000 federal guideline figure and the state figures are two separate gates, printed in the same circular without being reconciled. Do not treat a sub-RM1,000,000 figure as available in a named state without a current confirmation from that state's land office.

Which states sit below RM1,000,000, and which sit above?

Below, on the October 2024 table: Perlis, Kelantan and Sarawak at RM500,000, Melaka strata and Penang mainland strata at RM500,000, Negeri Sembilan strata at RM600,000, and Perak's Zone 2 and Zone 3 developer strata bands from RM350,000. Above: Selangor Zones 1 and 2 at RM2,000,000, and landed subsale on Penang island at RM3,000,000.

That is the whole point of the page. The spread is roughly RM400,000 at the low end, which was a Penang mainland developer overhang strata unit under the 2024 campaign, to RM3,000,000 at the high end for landed property on Penang island. RM1,000,000 sits in the middle.

Two cautions on the low end. First, several of the sub-RM1,000,000 figures are strata-only figures, so the landed number in the same state is higher. Second, the federal guideline benchmark of RM1,000,000 is printed in the same circular as those lower state figures, so a low figure needs a current confirmation from the state authority before you plan around it.

Why does the federal figure say RM1,000,000 when some states publish less?

Because there are two published layers. The federal property acquisition guideline, administered by the Economic Planning Unit under the Ministry of Economy, states that foreign interests may not acquire property valued at less than RM1,000,000 per unit. Several state authorities publish and approve residential floors below that. Both appear in the same Bar Council circular.

This page states both and stops there. No reconciliation is published in a primary source that could be read, and the Ministry of Economy's guideline page did not load when it was checked, so the guideline's own current text and its appendix of exemptions were not read.

What to do about it: ask the state authority of the state you are buying in what the current floor is, and get the answer in writing before you commit. That is the only way to settle which layer applies to your purchase.

Which of these figures have already expired?

Two sets. Penang's developer overhang figures, which the source ties to sale and purchase agreements signed between 1 January and 31 December 2024 under the state's Home Ownership Campaign, and the RM1,500,000 Selangor strata figure still in circulation, which came from a temporary measure that ran for 2020 only.

• Penang overhang units: island strata RM700,000 and island landed RM1,500,000, mainland strata RM400,000 and mainland landed RM750,000. On the face of the source that window closed on 31 December 2024. Treat them as historical. Secondary guides written for 2026 say the operative Penang figures are now the subsale column only, meaning island strata RM1,000,000 and island landed RM3,000,000, mainland strata RM500,000 and mainland landed RM1,000,000. No Penang state government or land office page confirming that was located, and whether a successor campaign exists for 2025 or 2026 was not established.
• The RM1,500,000 Selangor figure is dead. It traces to PTG Selangor Circular 2/2020, a temporarily reduced strata threshold that ran from 1 January to 31 December 2020 only. It is expired, not current. A landed Selangor figure is doubtful in any case, because the Selangor row bars landed individual titles to foreign buyers altogether.
• Perak's freehold bar is date-stamped in the source itself: as of September 2023, non-citizens and foreign companies cannot acquire, own, hold or inherit freehold properties there.

The Perlis, Kedah, Selangor, Federal Territories, Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan and Sabah rows carry no effective date of their own. They are dated only by the table's as at October 2024 note.

Sarawak: two published figures, both reported

The Bar Council's table gives Sarawak residential RM500,000 with no division-level split. Sarawak-specific legal commentary citing the Land (Market Value of Property for Foreign Acquisition) (Amendment) Direction 2019, made under section 13E(2)(c) of the Sarawak Land Code, gives RM500,000 throughout Sarawak except Kuching Division, where the market value must not be less than RM600,000.

Both figures are printed here with their sources. Neither is averaged and neither is preferred, because the 2019 Direction was not read in original. If you are buying in Kuching Division, that RM100,000 difference is the thing to settle with the Land and Survey Department Sarawak before you sign.

Two further points from the same Sarawak commentary, reported and not confirmed against a Sarawak government page: the test is market value as determined by the Land and Survey Department Sarawak rather than the price paid, and a foreigner may only purchase in their own name, not jointly with a Malaysian citizen including a spouse.

Are the MM2H property minimums the same thing as a state floor?

No. They are a separate programme's own requirements. Malaysia My Second Home makes buying and owning a residence compulsory after approval, and the official category sheet sets the minimum property price at RM2,000,000 for Platinum, RM1,000,000 for Gold and RM600,000 for Silver. Those are MM2H conditions, not a discount on a state floor.

Dated detail from the programme, so the figures can be checked. MM2H is run by the One Stop Centre at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. Its announcement of 28 May 2025 gives Platinum, Gold and Silver participants one year from the date of pass endorsement to complete the house purchase, and states that for the special economic and financial zone category the purchase must be in Forest City, Johor, direct from a Forest City developer. The official guide also states that selling the residence is not allowed for 10 years unless it is to upgrade to one of higher value.

On the widely repeated claim that Medini or Forest City are exempt from the Johor RM1,000,000 floor: no statute, state gazette or Bar Council confirmation of an exemption was located, and the government's own MM2H guide points the other way. Its special-zone page states the purchase obligation with the floor price subject to Johor state property acquisition policy, which defers to the state floor rather than waiving it.

Whether the federal guideline's appendix exempts MM2H purchases from the RM1,000,000 benchmark could not be checked, because the Ministry of Economy page would not load. So the MM2H figures stay on this page as MM2H's own requirements and nothing more.

Header photo: AyyanD, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. All credits: image credits.