Budget 2027, tabled by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on 9 October 2026, puts RM459.84 billion into federal spending next year. For property, the line most buyers noticed is the extended first-home stamp duty relief, which now reaches homes priced up to RM750,000 (our explainer works through the numbers). Nine days on, here is everything else in the budget that touches housing, and the question about that relief that is still open.
First homes: the relief, and the subsale question
As proposed, a first home priced up to RM500,000 pays no stamp duty on the loan agreement or the transfer. Up to RM750,000, the first RM500,000 is exempt and the rest gets 50% off. It covers sale and purchase agreements signed from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2030, so a buyer in the RM500,001 to RM750,000 range who signs this year gets nothing from it. Syarikat Jaminan Kredit Perumahan (SJKP) will also guarantee up to RM20 billion in home loans, which the government expects to help about 80,000 first-time buyers.
What nobody has confirmed yet is whether a first home bought on the subsale market qualifies. The National House Buyers Association wants it to. "Shouldn't first-time buyers purchasing subsale or secondary-market properties enjoy the same benefits? The exemption should apply universally to both primary-market properties purchased from developers and secondary-market residential properties," its honorary secretary-general Datuk Chang Kim Loong told Bernama. Until the Finance Bill and the exemption order spell it out, treat the saving on a subsale home as unconfirmed. Agents fielding the question can find the short answers here.
Nearly RM1 billion for people's housing
The government set aside "nearly RM1 billion" for projects such as Rumah Mesra Rakyat and Program Residensi Rakyat, up from RM672 million in Budget 2026. Four new projects will be built: in Kulai, Johor; Nilai, Negeri Sembilan; Paya Rumput, Melaka; and Lembah Pertang, listed in the speech under Terengganu. The speech gave no prices or unit counts for them, which is what Paya Rumput residents are still asking about. In all, the housing ministry gets RM6.355 billion, and within it the PR1MA line rises to RM119.4 million from RM30.1 million.
Registration for the first phase of Bandar MADANI Bukit Jalil, a new public housing township in Kuala Lumpur that will include a vertical school, opened on 12 October. Prices and unit sizes have not been published (more on the township).
Government land in Kuala Lumpur
Almost 11 acres of government land in Belfield will be used to build at least 2,500 Rumah MADANI units, 70% of them for Bumiputera buyers. A separate 50 acres of strategic land around the city, valued at RM1 billion, goes to Yayasan Pelaburan Bumiputra as a new endowment, to be developed by PNB with affordable housing and Bumiputera interests in mind (we covered that on budget day). On the 50 acres of Malay Reserve Land already gazetted in Kuala Lumpur, Petronas has started developing the first 10 acres for affordable housing.
Abandoned projects get their stamp duty waiver back
The stamp duty exemption for reviving abandoned housing projects returns. Loan agreements and transfer documents signed by rescue contractors or developers and the original buyers of projects certified by the housing ministry would be exempt from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2030. The previous exemption lapsed at the end of 2025. The government's stated goal is zero abandoned housing projects by 2030, though the ministry's own budget line for reviving projects is smaller: RM6.5 million for 2027, against RM15.6 million this year.
Builders and contractors
Government contracts will again carry a variation of price clause, this time only for the cost of diesel and bitumen. The Master Builders Association welcomed it and asked for it to cover other materials too. Projects worth up to RM5 million that use a JKR pre-approved design can now be tendered by quotation.
Owners and households
- Help to repair homes hit by floods, landslides and other disasters doubles to RM10,000, from RM5,000.
- Buyers of energy-efficient air-conditioners and fridges can get a rebate of up to RM200 under NUR MADANI.
- A RM50 million Komuniti Angkat MADANI programme will focus on urban PPR communities, with shared kitchens, business equipment and training.
- The allocation to build and maintain quarters for police, doctors, soldiers, teachers and firefighters rises to RM2.3 billion, and the government's property management division becomes a full department, Jabatan Hartanah Negara.
- Tenants and landlords get nothing: no rental income tax relief, no tenant relief and no rent assistance.
What the industry asked for and did not get
Before the budget, the Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (REHDA) asked for a home ownership campaign for unsold completed units, tiered stamp duty relief for homes up to RM1 million and a review of development charges. The relief stops at RM750,000, and the other two did not make it in. The budget also leaves these as they are:
- Real property gains tax.
- The 8% stamp duty on residential transfers to foreign buyers.
- MM2H, foreign ownership thresholds and EPF housing withdrawals, none of which the speech mentions.
- The first-home loan interest relief, still limited to SPAs signed by the end of 2027.
REHDA president Zaini Yusoff welcomed the measures but pushed for more, telling EdgeProp:
"We hope the government will continue reviewing the eligibility threshold in line with prevailing house prices and market conditions, including considering an extension of the incentives to properties priced up to RM1 million."
The Penang angle
There is no housing measure aimed at Penang, and none of the four new people's housing projects is in the state. For Penang buyers, the stamp duty tier up to RM750,000 is the measure that counts: 816 of the 3,669 homes for sale on Rummah in Penang, a little over one in five, are priced between RM500,001 and RM750,000. Another 1,212 are at RM500,000 or less, where a first-time buyer pays no stamp duty at all.
The rest of Penang's share is about jobs and access. Penang is named the national technology finance centre, with Khazanah and InvestPenang setting up a RM100 million fund for early-stage semiconductor and advanced manufacturing companies. A RM1.1 billion fund from the government and MAHB will improve roads around ports and airports, Penang's among them, and the budget's economic outlook says Penang airport's capacity will double from 6.5 million passengers under MAHB's upgrade programme. Perak and Penang have also agreed a 40-year bulk water supply deal. The Mutiara Line LRT is not mentioned in the speech, but the economic outlook lists it among the high-impact projects continuing in 2027.
Elsewhere, Johor Bahru's e-ART line is in the budget, and Sarawak's own state budget, tabled separately, lines up 2,316 affordable homes.
Sources: Budget 2027 speech, Budget 2027 tax measures, housing ministry estimates, Economic Outlook 2027, Bernama, NST, EdgeProp, FMT.
