Budget 2027: Stamp Duty Waived on First Homes up to RM750,000 — Your Signing Date Decides Whether You Get It

On 9 October 2026 the Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, tabled Budget 2027. The line that matters most to a buyer is this: the stamp duty exemption on a first home has been widened from RM500,000 to RM750,000. It reads like good news, and it is — but what decides whether you actually get it is not the price of the house. It is the day your sale and purchase agreement is signed.

How the exemption works

Both instruments being covered is the point of this round. The loan agreement and the transfer are two separate stamp duties when you buy, and past incentives did not always cover both.

What it is worth

On a RM600,000 home with a 90% loan, BusinessToday calculates total stamp duty of roughly RM1,600 under the new framework against roughly RM14,700 before — a difference of about RM13,100, or 2.2% of the purchase price.

The value is not only the saving. What actually stops people buying is the cash they have to produce on signing day, and stamp duty is the hardest part of that sum. Take RM13,000 out of it and the whole cash threshold moves down.

The date that counts is the signing date

The budget ties it to the date the sale and purchase agreement is executed, from 1 January 2027. Not the booking date, not the handover date. The signing date.

That matters most on a new launch: there is always a gap between paying the booking fee and signing the SPA, and on many projects that signing already falls in early next year. So this is not a reason to wait — it is a reason to put the signing date on the table. When your project schedules its signing is a question you are allowed to ask, and to negotiate.

Do you count as a first-time buyer?

The budget and the reporting both say first-time homebuyer and nothing else. No citizenship condition was stated. How the exemption order defines a first home, whether a property once held in your name disqualifies you, and how joint purchases are treated all wait on the Ministry of Finance publishing the order.

This page will be updated when the order is published. The verification date is at the foot of the page.

For foreign nationals, the 8% rule is unchanged

Budget 2026 set the transfer stamp duty for foreign-national buyers at a flat 8%, with Malaysian permanent residents excluded from it. Budget 2027 announced no change to that.

So if you hold a foreign passport, whether this first-home exemption reaches you waits on the order — but the 8% gate stands as it was. How to keep the two gates apart is set out in 8% or 4%? For foreign buyers the rate is set by the transfer date.

The rest of the budget that touches housing

• Abandoned projects — full stamp duty exemption on the loan agreement and the transfer between the contractor or developer taking over the revival and the original purchasers, over the same 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2030 window, with the stated aim of clearing abandoned projects by 2030.
• Housing allocation — close to RM1 billion, covering Rumah Mesra Rakyat and the Program Residensi Rakyat.
• Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme (SJKP) — guarantees of up to RM20 billion, aimed at helping 80,000 people buy a first home. This is the one for buyers whose income is hard to document and who struggle to get a loan approved.

And for Johor Bahru: e-ART

The budget names Johor Bahru specifically: an e-ART system (elevated autonomous rapid transit) is to be rolled out there to deal with congestion. No figure was given. It is a separate thing from the RTS — the RTS crosses the checkpoint, e-ART moves people around inside the city.

Related

• How much money you need to buy a home in Malaysia
• What to understand before buying in Malaysia
• What foreigners can buy in Johor

Sources

1. Thresholds, the two instruments covered and the effective window: the Budget 2027 speech delivered by Prime Minister and Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim on 9 October 2026, as reported the same day by The Star, "Budget 2027: Stamp duty exemption for first-time homebuyers", and by Malay Mail.
2. The RM600,000 worked example with a 90% loan (about RM1,600 against RM14,700): BusinessToday, 11 October 2026.
3. The stamp duty exemption for revived abandoned projects: the same Budget 2027 speech.
4. Housing allocation of close to RM1 billion, SJKP guarantees of RM20 billion for 80,000 buyers, and the Johor Bahru e-ART: Utusan Malaysia, "Intipati Belanjawan 2027".
5. The 8% transfer stamp duty for foreign nationals and the exclusion of permanent residents: Budget 2026 (see our guide on what a purchase costs).

General information and commentary only, not legal, tax or financial advice. A budget announcement is not final until the Ministry of Finance publishes the exemption order; the published order governs. Last verified: 12 October 2026.