Buying property in Malaysia as a foreigner: yes, land included, once the state approves it.

Can a foreigner buy property in Malaysia?

Yes. Section 433B(1) of the National Land Code lets a non-citizen or a foreign company acquire land, and lets a dealing in alienated land be effected in their favour, but only after the prior approval of the State Authority has been obtained on a written application. A Malaysian permanent resident still counts as a non-citizen for this.

Section 433A defines a non-citizen as a natural person who is not a citizen of Malaysia, so the permission runs to an individual buying in their own name. No nominee structure is needed for that. A dealing done in contravention of section 433B is null and void under section 433C.

The Code governs Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan. Sabah and Sarawak have their own land legislation. What a foreign owner actually holds, and every section that touches it: foreign land ownership in Malaysia, explained.

Who approves a foreign purchase in Malaysia, and what can they attach to it?

The State Authority of the state the land sits in. Approval is applied for in writing before the dealing. Section 433B(2) lets it be made subject to terms and conditions and to payment of a prescribed levy, and section 433G makes that levy payable within thirty days of the notice of approval, failing which the approval lapses.

• A clean title is not evidence that consent is unnecessary. Negeri Sembilan's published row states that State Authority approval is required for a foreign acquisition even where the title carries no restriction in interest.
• Pahang states that every foreign acquisition is subject to state executive council approval, with a levy payable.
• How long consent takes is not published. No state land office or federal source giving a processing time was located, so treat it as unknown and ask the land office handling the file.

Transfer is by Form 14A and title passes to the buyer on registration, not on payment (section 215(2)). The consent and the levy therefore sit between paying and owning.

Is there a minimum property price for foreigners in Malaysia?

Yes, and it is set state by state. RM1,000,000 is the federal benchmark and the most common state figure, not the bottom of the range. On the most recent consolidated table, stated as at October 2024, the published residential floors run roughly RM400,000 to RM3,000,000. There is no minimum price anywhere in the statute.

The floors are policy, not law. Part 33A of the National Land Code creates a consent requirement and a levy power and sets no price, which is why the figures move without any amendment to the Code, and why they are published state by state rather than nationally.

Every state and zone, with each row's own conditions and its dating: Malaysia minimum purchase price by state.

What can a foreigner not buy in Malaysia?

Four categories are closed nationally under the property acquisition guideline as the Bar Council reproduces it: property valued at less than RM1,000,000 per unit, residential units in the low-cost and medium-low-cost categories as determined by the State Authority, property on Malay Reserved Land, and property allocated to Bumiputera interests in a development project. States add their own exclusions.

• Selangor: strata and landed-strata titled properties only. Landed individual titles are not permitted to a foreign buyer.
• Perak: as of September 2023, non-citizens and foreign companies cannot acquire, own, hold or inherit freehold property. That leaves 60-year leasehold direct from a developer, and residential subsale is not permitted.
• Melaka: a foreign buyer is limited to 2 residential units and 3 commercial units.
• Several states also exclude single-storey and one-and-a-half-storey terrace houses, property sold by auction, and agricultural land.

Every state row here is stated as at October 2024, per Bar Council Malaysia Circular 444/2024, which advises consulting the relevant state authority for changes.

What does a foreign buyer pay in stamp duty from 1 January 2026?

A flat 8%. The Finance Act 2025 inserted item 32(ab) into the First Schedule of the Stamp Act 1949: RM8.00 for every RM100 of the consideration or market value, whichever is greater, on a sale of residential property from 1 January 2026 to a person who is not a citizen and not a permanent resident.

The item applies to a foreign company as well as to an individual who is not a citizen and not a permanent resident. A Malaysian citizen pays the tiered scale in item 32(a) instead: 1% on the first RM100,000, 2% on the excess to RM500,000, 3% on the excess to RM1,000,000 and 4% above that. Legal fees run on the Solicitors' Remuneration Order 2023 scale. The state levy under section 433B(2) has no published amount in most states.

Every one-off cost, and which of them has no published figure at all: Malaysia property buying costs.

What taxes does a foreign owner pay, and what happens on the way out?

Rental income is taxed at a flat 30% of taxable income for a non-resident, with effect from year of assessment 2020, with no personal reliefs. On sale, real property gains tax is 30% within five years and 10% from the sixth, and the buyer retains up to 7% of the price for the tax authority.

The retention is paid to the tax authority within sixty days of the disposal. A Malaysian citizen reaches nil real property gains tax in the sixth year. A seller who is not a citizen and not a permanent resident does not: the rate steps down to 10% and stays there. Bank Negara Malaysia lets a non-resident repatriate divestment proceeds and income freely, provided it leaves as foreign currency, so the friction on exit is the retention and the tax, not a currency control.

The detail: Malaysia property tax for foreigners and selling Malaysian property as a foreigner.

Header photo: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. All credits: image credits.