Malaysia’s MM2H programme makes buying a home compulsory and sets its own minimum price. Each Malaysian state then sets another minimum for a foreigner buying within it. In Penang the two rules meet, and for a retiree the result is better than several published summaries suggest.
Everything below is from two Penang Land and Mines Office documents: its guidelines on property acquisition by non-citizens and foreign companies (updated 1 August 2024) and its schedule of fees under the Penang Land Rules 2021 (updated 1 January 2025). Both were read on 23 September 2026. The MM2H terms are from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, covered in the federal MM2H tiers for retirees.
Consent under section 433B
Under section 433B of the National Land Code, a non-citizen or foreign company may acquire property only with the consent of the State Authority. Penang’s guidelines add that the application may be made only through a lawyer at the Penang Land and Mines Office.
The minimum prices
Penang splits the state into the Island and Seberang Perai, the mainland, and splits property into strata (condominiums and apartments) and landed homes.
| Penang Island | Seberang Perai | |
|---|---|---|
| Strata, foreign individual | RM1 million | RM500,000 |
| Landed, foreign individual | RM3 million | RM1 million |
| Strata or landed, MM2H participant | RM500,000 | RM500,000 |
| Strata or landed, permanent resident | RM250,000 | RM250,000 |
The guidelines add three conditions:
- The MM2H price applies to residential property only, and to no more than two units.
- Foreigners and permanent residents may not buy low-cost, low-medium-cost or medium-cost housing at any price.
- The minimum prices do not apply to property passing by inheritance, by court order, or as a gift between close family members.
What this means for an MM2H retiree
The state’s MM2H floor is RM500,000, but the federal programme sets its own: a Silver participant must buy a home worth RM600,000 or more, a Gold participant RM1 million and a Platinum participant RM2 million. You have to meet the higher of the two.
For a Silver participant, the working minimum in Penang is therefore RM600,000, on the Island or the mainland, strata or landed. That is well below the RM1 million a foreigner without MM2H needs for an Island condominium, and a fifth of the RM3 million for an Island landed home.
The two-unit limit means the lower floor is for somewhere to live, not a portfolio.
What the state charges
The fee schedule sets two charges for a foreign individual buying a home.
An application fee of RM10,000 per title.
An approval levy, a percentage of the purchase price:
| Property and price | Levy |
|---|---|
| Landed, including landed strata, any price | 3% |
| Strata below RM1 million | 3% |
| Strata from RM1 million to RM1.5 million | 1.5% on the Island, 3% in Seberang Perai |
| Strata above RM1.5 million | 3% |
Worked through for the Silver minimum: a RM600,000 condominium carries a levy of RM18,000, and with the application fee the state’s charges come to RM28,000. That is before legal fees and the separate federal stamp duty, which for a foreign home buyer is now a flat 8%, or RM48,000 on the same home, as set out in the 8% stamp duty rule.
The bands make the levy jump rather than rise smoothly. On the Island, a RM1.2 million condominium at 1.5% carries the same RM18,000 levy as a RM600,000 one at 3%.
If an application is refused, an appeal on a residential title costs RM2,000.
Beyond Penang
Malaysian states set their own floors, and a figure that holds in Penang tells you nothing about Selangor or Johor. Kuala Lumpur, as a Federal Territory, has its own land office and its own floor, set out in Kuala Lumpur’s RM1 million rule for foreign buyers. Selangor’s and Johor’s floors give MM2H buyers no discount.
This page leaves out legal fees and financing, and it is not advice on whether to buy. The case for renting first is made in the retirement planning sequence, and it applies here because MM2H will not let you sell the home for ten years. If you want to avoid the purchase altogether, Sarawak’s programme makes it optional.