Terengganu

RM1,000,000. The Bar Council Conveyancing Practice Committee's state-by-state table, issued as Circular No 444/2024 with the table stated to be as at October 2024, records Terengganu's minimum purchase price for a non-citizen at RM1,000,000, and agriculture land is recorded as not permitted.

Unlike Kelantan next door, there is no conflict to reconcile here. The state figure is the same as the federal guideline reproduced in the same circular, under which foreign interests may not acquire real estate valued at less than RM1,000,000 per unit. State and federal agree, which makes Terengganu one of the more straightforward states to advise on even though the figure excludes more buyers.

Foreign interest includes Malaysian permanent residents. For a Malaysian citizen none of this applies.

Terengganu is a peninsular state, so the National Land Code applies. Under section 433B a non-citizen or foreign company needs the prior written approval of the State Authority, applied for in writing, before a transfer, lease or transmission of alienated land can be effected in their favour; section 433C makes a dealing in contravention null and void. The application goes to the state land authority in Kuala Terengganu.

On the levy, the Bar Council table records an express foreign levy for Kedah, Penang, Pahang and Johor, and none against Terengganu. The absence of an entry in a summary table is not a positive statement that no fee exists, so write to the Terengganu land office for the current consent fee schedule.

The costs that are certain: a flat 8% stamp duty has applied to non-citizens acquiring residential property since 1 January 2026, with service apartments and SOHO named expressly in the legislation. Real property gains tax on exit is 30% within five years and 10% from the sixth year, with no zero band at any holding period, and the circular records a retention sum of 7% of the disposal price at the point of sale. Foreign buyers typically obtain 60% to 70% margin of finance.

On the published figures, almost certainly not, and the arithmetic is clean enough to show. The largest published layout at Qubaz Suites is 753 sq ft. For a 753 sq ft unit to reach RM1,000,000 it would have to be priced at roughly RM1,328 per square foot. The 506 sq ft two-bedroom would need about RM1,976 per square foot, and the 388 sq ft studio about RM2,577.

The developer has not published a price list, so this is not a statement of what the units cost. It is a statement of what they would have to cost for a foreign buyer to be eligible at all, in a state where the secondary market for high-rise stock is thin.

If you are not a Malaysian citizen, treat the project as closed unless the developer's written price list says otherwise, and get the position confirmed by the Pejabat Tanah dan Galian Terengganu through a Terengganu conveyancing solicitor before you pay anything. For a Malaysian buyer, the whole schedule is open.

Terengganu is the clearer of the two, and clarity is worth something even when the number is higher. The Bar Council table records RM1,000,000 for Terengganu, matching the federal guideline, with agriculture land not permitted and no levy recorded. There is nothing to reconcile.

Kelantan is not clear. The same table records RM500,000 for Kelantan — half the federal guideline — while current practitioner guides state RM1,000,000. Three positions, no public reconciliation available.

The conclusion is counter-intuitive: the state with the higher, unambiguous threshold is the easier one to transact in, because a rejected consent application months after a deposit has been paid is a far more expensive outcome than being told no at the start. Both states require the same written ruling from their own land office before a booking fee, and in Kelantan you need it more, not less.