Your first-home buyers in the RM500,001 to RM750,000 range will ask you this week whether to sign now or wait. Here is the week in what your clients will raise, and what to tell them.
The January date on the first-home stamp duty
The Budget 2027 first-home measures cover SPAs signed from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2030, EdgeProp reported on 16 October (EdgeProp). The full exemption on homes up to RM500,000 runs on to 2030, and the new tier covers first homes above RM500,000 up to RM750,000: no duty on the first RM500,000 and half the duty on the rest. That is why the New Straits Times ran a Juwai IQI headline telling buyers to wait until January to sign.
Worked through on the transfer document alone, using the standard scale (1% on the first RM100,000, 2% up to RM500,000, 3% above that):
- RM500,000 first home: RM9,000 on the normal scale, nil under the exemption.
- RM600,000 first home: RM12,000 on the normal scale, RM1,500 under the new tier - a saving of RM10,500.
- RM750,000 first home: RM16,500 on the normal scale, RM3,750 under the new tier - a saving of RM12,750.
What to tell the client: if the home is a first purchase between RM500,001 and RM750,000 and the SPA date can move, the numbers favour January. Do not promise the saving until the exemption order is gazetted, and check the developer will hold the unit and the price that long. Our first-home stamp duty explainer has the rest of the Budget package.
A refundable 5% before the SPA - still only a plan
Housing minister Nga Kor Ming said on 14 October that KPKT is studying an option-to-purchase step: buyers would pay up to 5% of the proposed price before the SPA, get it back in full with interest if the developer does not go ahead, and the developer would have to honour the indicative price it first offered. KPKT gave no start date and no framework. What to tell the client: nothing changes yet, so read the booking form for what happens to the booking fee if they walk away. We set out what the option plan would change on Sunday.
Landlords: Kuantan's bitcoin tenants
Several Kuantan owners say tenants used their rented houses to mine bitcoin on illegally connected power, and TNB is now pursuing the owners for the loss. One said his claim came down from more than RM100,000 to about RM64,000; an UMNO division official helping them said nine owners in four states have come forward, some facing up to RM600,000 (Sinar Harian). What to tell landlord clients: meet the tenant, copy the IC, be wary of a tenant who will only pay cash, and keep the right to inspect in the tenancy agreement.
Market numbers clients will quote at you
Khazanah Research Institute found only 16% of Johor's 2024 new launches were priced under RM300,000, and that in Penang just 24% of new supply was affordable to the bottom 55% of households (KRI). In Perak, the state counts 4,075 unsold homes as at 30 June, more than 1,000 of them terraces, and says approvals in oversupplied areas will get stricter (The Star). Rehda's own members blame rejected end-financing first. What to tell the client: get a loan pre-assessment before the booking, not after.
Buying near water? KPKT counted 1,445 flash-flood hotspots nationwide as at 7 October, and has started a 12-month plan running to October 2027: drain and pump-house clearing before the Northeast Monsoon first, then drainage upgrades, then basin-level works (EdgeProp). Ask the local council about the street before your buyer commits.
Registration open in Batu Kawan
SkyWorld Cassia in Batu Kawan is taking registrations of interest ahead of its launch: freehold, six 29-storey blocks, 3,600 units, one 900 sq ft three-bedroom layout from RM288,800, with maintenance fixed at RM0.18 psf for 10 years (Penang Property Talk). For island-side clients, Penang now has a date for Silicon Island's first link-road bridge from Permatang Damar Laut: December 2028.
- First home, RM500,001-RM750,000: talk SPA timing before the booking.
- Booking fees: the rules have not changed; read the refund clause.
- Landlords: screen and inspect; the electricity risk is real.
- Every buyer: loan pre-assessment first.
Sources: EdgeProp (KPKT statement), Khazanah Research Institute, EdgeProp (flood plan), The Star, Sinar Harian, Penang Property Talk, New Straits Times.
