What Foreigners Can Buy in Johor: The Official Threshold, the Quotas, and Nine Things Off Limits

It is the question I am asked most: what is the minimum price a foreigner has to pay to buy in Johor Bahru? Three numbers circulate — RM1 million, RM600,000, RM500,000 — and everyone quoting them sounds certain. All three are said by someone who is right. They are just not describing the same thing.

The official threshold and the quotas

The minimum is the same whether you buy from the developer or on the subsale market. The quota is the ceiling on how many units in one project may go to foreign buyers:

Source: Johor Land and Mines Office, "Perolehan Hartanah Oleh Kepentingan Asing".

The quota is the part buyers miss

Fifty per cent for apartments sounds generous. But it is a ceiling on the whole project, not per block and not per unit type. In popular projects the foreign allocation gets used up — and once it is full, the State Authority will not approve your purchase however much you are willing to pay and however well you qualify.

So alongside the price, there is a second question worth asking: how much of this project’s foreign quota is left? Developers do not put that in the brochure, but their sales teams know the number.

Nine things a foreigner may not buy at any price

This list is absolute. It has nothing to do with budget:

1. Low-cost and low-medium-cost residential or shop units
2. Single-storey and one-and-a-half-storey terrace houses
3. Shops or shop-offices of fewer than 3 storeys
4. Units allocated to the Bumiputera quota in a project, unless released by the Johor State Secretary’s housing division
5. Land under a court order of sale, and property sold at public auction
6. Property on Malay Reserve land
7. Stalls and service workshops
8. Agricultural land developed on a homestead concept
9. Property gazetted under the National Heritage Act 2005

Agricultural land cannot be bought at all, only leased: in the name of a local company, for 10 years or more, and only for high-technology commercial agriculture, agro-tourism, or export-oriented agro-processing.

So where do RM600,000 and RM500,000 come from

Neither appears in the threshold table. But the same official site’s fee schedule contains this:

In other words, the state acknowledges this route and has already priced it. It is not a published threshold; it is an approval obtained project by project. That explains something buyers find baffling: why two projects on the same street can have different entry prices for foreigners.

So when someone tells you "the Johor threshold is RM600,000", the useful follow-up is not "really?" but "for which project, and has it been approved?"

Where in JB you can actually buy below RM1 million

• Medini — the same as the rest of JB: it comes down to the approval the individual project holds. Some are RM500,000 and above, some RM600,000 and above. There is no single fixed number.
• Forest City — RM500,000 and above across the board for foreign buyers.

These two reflect what is actually transacting on the ground in Johor Bahru (verified by Simon), not a published state threshold. To be certain which one applies to the block you are looking at, the project’s own approval letter is the authority — and I can obtain it for you.

Permanent residents count as foreign interest

This one catches people out. Under section 433B of the National Land Code, as set out by the Johor Land Office, "foreign interest" covers four categories:

• Individuals who are not Malaysian citizens
• Permanent residents
• Foreign companies or foreign institutions
• Local companies or institutions in which the above hold more than 50% of the voting rights

Keep the two gates apart: this is the definition for land office consent. Stamp duty is a separate rule — from 2026 the transfer stamp duty for foreign-national buyers is a flat 8%, and Malaysian permanent residents are excluded from that. Two gates, two definitions; do not merge them.

Related

• How much money you need to buy a home in Malaysia
• Strata title versus individual title
• Buying subsale: what to check before you sign
• What to understand before buying in Malaysia

Sources

1. Johor Land and Mines Office (PTG Johor), "Perolehan Hartanah Oleh Kepentingan Asing": the definition of foreign interest (National Land Code s.433B), the RM1,000,000 minimum and quotas by category, the nine prohibited categories, and the conditions for leasing agricultural land.
2. Johor Land and Mines Office, "Maklumat Bayaran": serviced apartments and SOHO units may be sold below RM1,000,000 with State Authority approval, with a minimum approval fee of RM50,000 in those cases. Under the Johor Land Rules (No. 1) (Amendment) 2026, effective 1 April 2026.
3. The 8% transfer stamp duty for foreign nationals and the exclusion of permanent residents: Ministry of Finance Budget 2026 documents (see our guide on what a purchase costs).
4. Current entry prices at Medini and Forest City: verified by Simon on the ground in Johor Bahru; for any specific project, the approval it holds from the State Authority governs.

The above is published on the state government’s own website. Rules and fees can change; the Johor Land and Mines Office’s latest publication governs, and a specific project’s quota and approval status are governed by the approval that project holds. Last verified: 11 October 2026.