Buying Malaysian property from Taiwan

A Taiwanese buyer purchases as a foreigner: freehold or leasehold title in your own name, no local company or nominee needed. Each state sets a minimum purchase price for foreign buyers, commonly around RM1 million, and the transfer needs state authority consent. Malay Reserve land, Bumiputera-quota units and state-defined low- and medium-cost housing are closed to you. One difference from Taiwan worth naming early: a large share of Malaysian stock is genuinely freehold, held in your own name with no lease clock running. There is no Taiwanese equivalent of the Bumi lot restriction, so confirm the title category on any unit before you get attached to it.

One ping is 3.30578 square metres, or 35.5832 square feet. Malaysian listings quote built-up area in square feet, so any comparison has to convert before it means anything — which is why the detailed post on this sits first in the reading list below. The headline is that central Kuala Lumpur pricing per ping lands well below the Taipei citywide average, and Johor Bahru is lower again by a wide margin. But price per area is only the opening number. A cheap ping with a weak rental market and thin resale demand is not a good buy, and the honest framing is that you are trading Taipei's liquidity for Malaysian space and yield. Look at yield, holding cost and exit liquidity before you let the per-ping figure decide for you.

Taiwan permits individuals to remit substantial sums abroad each year, and the practical constraint is documentation rather than permission: your bank will want the purpose of the remittance and evidence of the source of funds, and your Malaysian solicitor will want the money to arrive through a traceable channel into the firm's client account. On borrowing, Malaysian banks do lend to foreign buyers but on non-resident terms — a lower margin of finance than a local gets, a shorter tenure, and income documentation that has to satisfy a bank reading a Taiwanese payslip. Some banks decline non-residents outright depending on circumstances, so get an indicative position before you pay a booking fee rather than after. The financing post below works through what the banks actually ask for.

Malaysian side: transfer stamp duty for non-citizens is a flat 8% of property value for instruments executed on or after 1 January 2026, doubled from the previous 4% under the Finance Act 2025. Rental income earned in Malaysia is taxed in Malaysia at non-resident rates. On disposal, Real Property Gains Tax is 30% of the gain within the first five years and 10% from year six — a foreign owner never reaches the 0% a Malaysian citizen gets. Taiwan side: overseas income can enter the alternative minimum tax calculation once it passes the relevant thresholds, and holding the property through an offshore company can bring CFC rules into play. Thresholds and treatment change, and the interaction with your other income is specific to you, so the posts below explain the mechanics and then tell you to take it to a Taiwanese tax professional. Nothing here is tax advice.

Owning a Malaysian property gives you an asset, not the right to live there. If the plan is a holiday home or a rented-out investment, you do not need a long-stay visa at all. If the plan is actually to live in Malaysia — retirement, or moving with a school-age child — MM2H is the route. It runs in tiers pairing a fixed deposit with a minimum property purchase: Silver from around USD 150,000 on deposit with a property from about RM600,000; Gold from around USD 500,000 with a property from about RM1,000,000; Platinum from around USD 1,000,000 with a property from about RM2,000,000. A separate, cheaper route is tied to the special economic zone in Johor, where the qualifying property must be bought from a designated developer. These requirements have been revised more than once, so confirm the current criteria before you plan a purchase around a visa.