Penang
Five verified developments in Penang are listed here — two in George Town, one in Gelugor, one at Queensbay in Bayan Lepas and one in Prai on the mainland. Two are freehold; the other three have no tenure their developer will state. Only one publishes a price: G'Vinton, at RM715,000 to RM2,219,000 on the permit.
What the island and the mainland actually look like. G'Vinton is about 2 km from KOMTAR and the George Town central business district and about 20 km from Penang International Airport; it names Gurney Drive, Gleneagles and Island Hospital without publishing a distance to any of them, and that is how it is shown here. Noordinz Suites fronts the Penang Strait in George Town. The Lighthauz in Gelugor names the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway and the Penang Bridge as direct access. Queens Residences Q3 is directly opposite Queensbay Mall, about 3 km from the Penang Bridge. GEM Residences in Prai is 6 minutes from Penang Sentral, 8 minutes from the Penang Bridge and 18 minutes from Queensbay. The proposed Mutiara LRT is not a factor yet: its alignment does not serve Queensbay, and the Penang Waterfront station near The Lighthauz is proposed only.
Penang's rules are the most divided in the country. For secondary purchases on the island a non-citizen needs RM1,000,000 on strata and RM3,000,000 on landed — the highest landed floor in Malaysia. On the mainland, in Seberang Perai, the same thresholds are RM500,000 and RM1,000,000, which is why GEM Residences in Prai has a genuinely different buyer pool from anything on the island. The state levy is 3%, in force since 1 February 2014. Commercial and industrial property must be held for three years before resale, and auction properties are not open to non-citizens at all.
What to be careful about. The concessionary thresholds for buying unsold stock directly from a developer — RM700,000 and RM1,500,000 on the island, RM400,000 and RM750,000 on the mainland — applied to contracts signed during 2024. Whether they still run in 2026 needs written confirmation from the state, not a sales office. Four of these five publish no price at all, and three publish no tenure. NAPIC's 1Q2026 count records 3,165 unsold units in Penang.
Checked one project at a time by Louis Koh, 11 years in Malaysian property.
5 projects
George Town 2
Freehold
Tenure not publishedBayan Lepas 1
FreeholdGelugor 1
Tenure not publishedSeberang Perai 1
Tenure not publishedFrequently asked questions
Can a foreigner buy property in Penang, and what is the minimum price?
Yes, but the answer splits in two, because Penang applies different floors to the island and to the mainland. For a sub-sale purchase on Penang Island the floor is RM1,000,000 for a strata unit and RM3,000,000 for a landed home. On the mainland, Seberang Perai, it is RM500,000 for strata and RM1,000,000 for landed.
That RM3,000,000 landed figure is the highest foreign-buyer floor for landed residential property anywhere in Malaysia. It is one and a half times the Johor landed floor and three times the mainland one, in a state you can cross in twenty minutes.
Consent comes from the Penang state authority through the Penang Land and Mines Office. Foreign interest includes Malaysian permanent residents, so a PR holder is tested against the same floors as any other non-citizen.
Is there a Penang levy on foreign buyers?
Yes — 3% of the transacted price, payable upon state approval, at the rate the state introduced from 1 February 2014. Penang is one of only four states recorded as charging an express foreign levy; the others are Kedah, Pahang and Johor. Kuala Lumpur and Selangor charge nothing equivalent.
On top of the levy sits the flat 8% stamp duty that has applied to non-citizens acquiring residential property since 1 January 2026, with service apartments and SOHO named expressly in the legislation.
Rates move. Have your solicitor confirm the levy rate in force on your signing date rather than the rate in force when an article was written.
Which Penang projects on this site can a foreigner actually buy?
Only part of them, and the clearest worked example is G'Vinton in George Town. Its gazetted permit puts Type A at a maximum of RM874,000 and Type B at a maximum of RM774,000 — both below the RM1,000,000 island strata floor, so 494 of its 508 units are closed to a non-citizen. The 14 duplexes at RM2,190,000 to RM2,219,000 clear it comfortably. One project, two answers, decided unit by unit.
GEM Residences at Prai is the most open of the five, because Seberang Perai is not the island: the mainland strata floor is RM500,000, and reported prices start around RM400,000, so mid-sized and larger units should clear it while the smallest layout may not.
Two of the five publish no tenure at all — The Lighthauz at Gelugor and Noordinz Suites at George Town both record tenure as not stated by the developer. Freehold appears only on listing sites for Noordinz, and a listing site is not a title search.
What about the discounted threshold for unsold developer stock?
Do not assume it is still running. Penang offered a lower tier for units bought direct from a developer as overhang stock — RM700,000 strata and RM1,500,000 landed on the island, RM400,000 strata and RM750,000 landed on the mainland — under its Home Ownership Campaign, and that tier applied to sale and purchase agreements signed between 1 January and 31 December 2024.
Whether any reduced tier is available for a signing today is something only the Penang Land and Mines Office can confirm in writing. An agent telling you about a campaign price is not confirmation, and neither is this page.
If the reduced tier is not extended, the ordinary sub-sale floors apply and a large part of the island's stock moves out of reach again.
What should a Penang buyer know that nobody volunteers?
Three things. First, oversupply: NAPIC recorded Penang's residential overhang at 3,165 completed unsold units in the first quarter of 2026, the fifth largest of any state, against a national total of 32,801 that was rising for a sixth consecutive quarter.
Second, the holding period on non-residential stock. Commercial and industrial property acquired by a foreigner in Penang is recorded as having to be held for three years before it can be resold. That is a lock-up on your exit, not a formality, and it does not appear in any brochure.
Third, auction property is not open to foreigners in Penang at all, at any price. If somebody offers you a bargain at a bank auction, the answer is no before the bidding starts.