Levia Residence @ Cheras

Kuala Lumpur — the Federal Territory. The approving authority printed on Matrix Concepts' own advertising permit is DBKL, and the building plan reference is DBKL.JKB.BP S2 OSC 2022 1411 (20). That is documentary, not inference.

This question is not pedantic. Cheras straddles the Kuala Lumpur–Selangor boundary: the inner half, including Pandan Perdana, is Federal Territory under DBKL; the outer half along Jalan Cheras towards Kajang is Selangor under a different local council and a different state land office.

Three things change with that line. Assessment rates are set by different authorities and computed differently. State consent for a non-citizen buyer goes to a different body — in Kuala Lumpur that is the Federal Territory land administration, not a state government. And minimum purchase price for foreigners is set state by state, so the Kuala Lumpur figure does not carry over the boundary.

If you are cross-shopping Levia against something further out along Jalan Cheras, establish which side of the line the other project is on before you compare anything. People get this wrong constantly.

Only at the very top of the price list, and there is very little of it left. Kuala Lumpur applies a RM1,000,000 minimum purchase price to residential property acquired by a non-citizen. The advertising permit records Levia's price range as RM300,000 to RM1,132,000 in Tower A and RM300,000 to RM1,177,000 in Tower B. So the only units that clear the threshold are the highest-priced Type D stacks — and the project was 88% taken up as at March 2026.

I would rather say that plainly at the top than bury it. If you are a foreign buyer, the realistic answer for Levia today is that you should ask me first whether anything above RM1 million is still available, before you fall in love with a floor plan.

If a qualifying unit does exist, here is what the purchase actually involves. State consent: under section 433B of the National Land Code a non-citizen needs written approval before the transfer can be registered; in Kuala Lumpur that application goes through the Federal Territory land administration rather than a state government. Budget several months. There is no Kuala Lumpur equivalent of the Johor foreign buyer levy — the 3%-or-RM30,000 charge you may have read about is a Johor state measure and does not apply here.

Stamp duty: from 1 January 2026 a flat 8% applies on the transfer instrument for residential property acquired by a non-citizen who is not a permanent resident. Levia is residential, so it applies. On a RM1.1 million unit that is RM88,000, and it is payable in cash on top of the purchase price. Real property gains tax on exit: a non-citizen pays 30% within five years and 10% from the sixth year onwards, with no zero band ever. Model your exit before you model your entry.

MM2H status changes your visa. It does not change the price floor, the stamp duty rate or the RPGT rate. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. Confirm the specifics with a conveyancing lawyer before you commit — that is what they are for.

Four layouts: Type A 767 sq ft, Type B 938 sq ft, Type C 1,109 sq ft and Type D 1,364 sq ft. Type B is a straight three-bedroom, two-bathroom. Type C is 3+1 bedrooms with three bathrooms. Type D is 4+1 bedrooms with three bathrooms. Type A is a two-bedroom.

Here is a discrepancy worth flagging, because you will hit it if you research this yourself. The project website shows only three layouts — B, C and D, and describes the range as 938 to 1,364 sq ft. The developer's brochure specification page says 767 to 1,364 sq ft, two to four bedrooms, and the facilities plan legend labels four unit types including Type A.

Both are true, at different points in time. The Edge reported at the January 2024 launch that every Type A unit in Tower A had already sold, priced from approximately RM300,000. A developer that has sold out a layout usually stops showing it. That also explains why the advertising permit still records a RM300,000 floor price that no longer matches anything you can buy.

Type C and Type D are the ones designed around two master bedroom suites — the multigenerational configuration. If you are buying for parents or grown children living with you, that is the specific reason to look at those two rather than Type B.

All units are stated as north–south oriented, which in Kuala Lumpur means you avoid taking the full afternoon sun on the long facade. Ask which stack your specific unit sits on and check it on the key plan, because orientation on a floor plan and orientation on the actual block are not always the same conversation.

The developer has not published a current price list, and I am not going to invent one. What is on the public record is this: the advertising permit records RM300,000 to RM1,132,000 for Tower A and RM300,000 to RM1,177,000 for Tower B, and The Edge reported in March 2026 that units were priced from RM660 per square foot, on a gross development value of RM523 million.

Those two do not reconcile, and I would rather explain why than pick one. The permit figures are the range registered when the licence was issued, and the RM300,000 floor corresponds to the Type A units that sold out in 2023. RM660 psf against the smallest currently marketed layout, the 938 sq ft Type B, works out to roughly RM619,000 — which is consistent with The Edge's separate report that Types B, C and D opened from RM684,000 in Tower A. In short: the permit range is historical, the psf figure is closer to reality, and neither is a price list.

The maintenance fee has not been published either. On a residential-title condominium with a Level 6 facilities deck, a Level 36 sky floor, 29 EV charging bays, lifts serving 36 storeys and landscaped grounds on 4.71 acres, the service charge is not a rounding error. Ask for the rate per square foot and the budget it is based on, both in writing.

The other number nobody quotes you is the sinking fund contribution, and the third is the DBKL assessment rate. On residential title both are lower than the commercial equivalent, which is one of Levia's real advantages — but lower is not zero and they recur every year you own it.

Message me and I'll get the live price list with the psf by level band, the published service charge and sinking fund, the car park allocation on your specific unit, and the handover specification. Those four answers change your total outlay more than any discount you will be offered.

The one printed on the site had a validity period ending 13 July 2026. The disclosure reads: sales and advertising permit 30392-1/07-2026/0810(N)-(S), validity 14 July 2023 to 13 July 2026. Today is after that date.

I am not claiming the developer is selling without a permit. In practice a developer renews the advertising and sales permit as the project runs on, and the website footer is often the last thing to be updated. But the permit is the document that authorises the marketing you are reading, and you are entitled to see a current one.

So ask for it, and ask for the developer's licence alongside it. The licence is 30392/03-2028/0069(N), valid 8 March 2023 to 7 March 2028, and both are issued to Matrix Concepts (Cheras) Sdn Bhd (1230052-H), not to the listed holding company. Check the number and the dates on the actual document rather than accepting a verbal assurance.

This is a two-minute check that most buyers never do, and it is exactly the kind of thing I do on your behalf before you pay a booking fee.

Three credible sources give three different dates, so here they all are. The developer's own advertising permit disclosure states an estimated completion date of July 2027. The Edge, reporting from the January 2024 launch, wrote that both towers were expected to complete in the third quarter of 2027. The Edge again, reporting the topping-out on 5 March 2026, wrote that the project was on track for completion in early 2027.

None of them is wrong; they are different kinds of statement made at different times. The permit date is a formal registration. The 2024 quarter was a launch-day projection. The 2026 line was a topping-out press briefing. That spread of roughly nine months is normal on a project of this size and is not, by itself, a warning sign.

What binds the developer is none of the above. It is the delivery period written into your Schedule H sale and purchase agreement, which on a residential-title strata development runs 36 months from the date of the agreement, with liquidated damages payable if it is missed. Read that clause, note the date the period runs from — it is your agreement date, not the launch date — and keep it.

Topping out means the structural frame is finished. Facade, mechanical and electrical works, lifts, fire systems, testing and commissioning, then CCC certification all follow. A gap of a year or more between topping out and vacant possession is ordinary.

If you are timing this against a lease expiry or the sale of an existing home, build in a buffer and ask for the contractual delivery date in writing. I'll check the published site photographs against the stated programme for you — that is a more useful signal than any spokesperson's quote.

You should look at it properly rather than either dismiss it or panic. NAPIC's Q1 2026 figures put Kuala Lumpur's completed unsold residential stock at 3,733 units, fourth-highest of any state and the biggest single-quarter jump in the country — up 1,678 units on the previous quarter. Nationally the residential overhang reached 32,801 units worth RM16.37 billion.

That is the number that applies to Levia, and it is worth being precise about why. Levia is a residential-title condominium, so it sits in the residential overhang series. The separate and larger problem — 4,181 unsold completed serviced apartments in Kuala Lumpur, with 58.5% of the national serviced-apartment overhang sitting in the RM500,001 to RM1 million band — is a different asset class. Plenty of new Cheras high-rises are in that second series. Levia is not. Mixing the two is how bad advice gets written, so I am keeping them apart.

The honest read: overhang is concentrated by project, price band and product type, not spread evenly across a postcode. A 938 to 1,364 sq ft residential-title family unit competes against a thin supply of comparable stock in Cheras, because most of what has been launched around it is smaller and on commercial title.

The counterweight is liquidity. Larger units in a 778-unit building re-sell more slowly than small ones simply because the buyer pool is narrower — you are selling to families who want three or four bedrooms in Cheras specifically, not to yield investors anywhere. Buy this as a home you intend to live in for years, and that is a strength. Buy it as a two-year flip and it is a trap.

Before you commit, get the actual transacted prices for comparable 900 to 1,400 sq ft units within two kilometres over the past twelve months, not asking prices. Ask me and I'll pull them along with the latest NAPIC Kuala Lumpur figures.

The title is a 99-year lease expiring on 30 January 2122. As at 2026 that leaves roughly 96 years, which is about as much lease as a leasehold title in Kuala Lumpur ever has.

The practical issue with leasehold in Malaysia is not the expiry date itself — nobody reading this will be alive for it. It is the point at which the remaining term starts to affect financing. Banks look closely at the balance of the lease against the loan tenure, and valuers begin discounting once the remaining term falls below roughly 60 years. At 96 years remaining, that is a problem for a much later owner, not for you.

The second leasehold issue is consent to transfer. On leasehold state land in Kuala Lumpur, a resale typically requires the land authority's consent before the transfer can be registered, which adds weeks and a fee to any onward sale. Factor that into your exit timeline. On freehold there is no such step.

The third is that leasehold generally trades at a discount to comparable freehold in the same location. That cuts both ways: you paid less going in, and you will receive less going out. It is priced, not hidden.

What I would not do is treat leasehold as disqualifying. Large parts of Kuala Lumpur — including most of Bandar Sri Permaisuri and much of Cheras — are on leasehold state land, so the alternative is often not a freehold version of the same thing, it is a different neighbourhood entirely.

Yes in principle, on tighter terms than a Malaysian gets, and only on a unit that clears the RM1 million floor in the first place. That last condition does most of the work at Levia — see the foreign-buyer answer above.

Where the terms differ: margin of financing for a non-resident is typically well below the 90% a Malaysian first-time buyer might see, so plan a materially larger cash contribution. Tenure is usually shorter, which raises the monthly instalment at the same rate. Income assessment on foreign-sourced income means certified translations, tax returns and often a longer processing time, and some banks will not lend at all without an existing relationship or a Malaysian income stream.

Budget the cash items separately from the loan, because financing does not cover them: the 8% stamp duty on the transfer instrument for a non-citizen, legal fees on both the SPA and the loan documentation, the state consent application fee, and valuation. On a RM1.1 million purchase the stamp duty alone is RM88,000.

One more thing that catches foreign buyers out: rental income earned by a non-resident is taxed at a flat 30% on the net, with no personal relief. If you are modelling a yield, model it after that, not before.

Tell me your nationality, your residency status, whether the income is Malaysian or foreign, and whether you are buying personally or through a company. I'll tell you which banks are actually writing this kind of deal right now rather than which ones say they might.