Stamp duty and MOT in Malaysia: how much does a property transfer cost?

What the MOT is

When you buy a property, the sale is not final until ownership is legally moved into your name. The document that does this is the Memorandum of Transfer, or MOT (pindah milik), officially known as Borang 14A. It is lodged at the land office and registers you as the new owner on the title.

Stamp duty (duti setem) is the tax charged on that transfer. It is the single largest transfer cost most buyers pay, and it is separate from the purchase price, the legal fees, and the loan costs. When people ask about the kos pindah milik rumah, MOT stamp duty is usually the biggest line in that number.

The duty is charged on the higher of the price stated in the sale and purchase agreement or the market value assessed by the authorities. That distinction matters, and we come back to it below.

Stamp duty rates

For Malaysian citizens and permanent residents, MOT stamp duty is progressive. Each tier of the property's value is taxed at its own rate.

Because the rates are tiered, you do not pay a single flat percentage on the whole price. Here is how it works out for a RM500,000 home:

So a RM500,000 property carries RM9,000 in MOT stamp duty at the standard rates.

First-time buyer exemption

If this is your first home, you may not pay the RM9,000 at all.

First-time Malaysian buyers can claim a full stamp duty exemption on both the MOT and the loan agreement for a first residential property priced up to RM500,000. Budget 2026 extended this exemption until 31 December 2027.

A few points worth knowing:

• The exemption is for Malaysian citizens only.
• It applies to your first residential property, so it is not available if you already own a home.
• The RM500,000 cap is on the property price. Above that, the standard tiered rates apply.

This is one of the larger savings a first-time buyer can get, so it is worth confirming with your lawyer whether your purchase qualifies before you complete.

Loan agreement stamp duty

There is a second stamp duty that is easy to forget: the one on your loan agreement.

If you take a housing loan, the loan agreement is also stamped, at a flat 0.5% of the loan amount. On a RM400,000 loan, that is RM2,000. It is charged separately from the MOT duty, so a buyer who budgets only for the transfer duty can be caught short.

If you qualify for the first-time buyer exemption above, this loan agreement duty is exempted too, for a first home up to RM500,000.

Foreign buyers

The rates above are for citizens and permanent residents. Non-citizen foreign buyers are treated differently.

From 1 January 2026, foreign buyers (excluding PRs) pay a flat 8% stamp duty on the MOT. This replaced the progressive tiers for this group. On a RM1,000,000 property, that is RM80,000 in MOT stamp duty, considerably more than a citizen would pay on the same property.

Why the property's market value matters

Remember that stamp duty is charged on the higher of the price in your SPA or the market value assessed by the authorities (LHDN and the valuation department, JPPH).

This means a low price on paper does not always lower your duty. If the assessed market value is higher than your agreed price, the duty is calculated on the higher figure. This is why the valuation matters, and why it helps to have a sense of what similar properties actually sold for.

Checking recent transacted prices for comparable properties is a practical way to sanity-check an assessment. If nearby homes of a similar type and size transacted around your price, the assessed value should be in a similar range. You can browse recorded transactions on List.my subsales, and if you want to go deeper on estimating a property's worth, read how to check property market value in Malaysia.

Before you rely on any of this

List.my shows recorded property transaction data, which is useful for checking whether a price and its likely stamp duty are in a sensible range. It is not tax or legal advice.

Stamp duty rates, exemptions, and the treatment of first-time and foreign buyers are set by policy and change with each Budget announcement. Confirm the specifics of your own transfer with your lawyer, who handles the MOT and the stamping, and check the current rules with the authorities (such as LHDN) before you commit to a number.