Johor draws foreign property buyers and expands data‑centre hub

From 1 January 2026 foreign purchasers of Malaysian residential property will pay a flat 8 % stamp duty, replacing the previous 4 % rate. In the Forest City Special Financial Zone (SFZ) in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, eligible buyers who purchase completed units directly from the developer can receive a 50 % remission on stamp duty and loan agreements, provided the sale‑and‑purchase agreement is signed between 1 September 2024 and 31 December 2034 and construction was completed before 1 September 2024. The minimum purchase price for foreign buyers in Forest City starts at RM 500,000 under the MM2H‑linked route, compared with the general RM 1 million threshold for the state.

Johor is also emerging as a major data‑centre hub in the Asia‑Pacific. According to Knight Frank’s Data Centre Atlas 2026, the state ranks third in the region with 1,110 MW of IT‑direct capacity, behind Tokyo and Singapore, and a market value of US$39.11 billion. Vacancy rates are at a record low of 0.7 %. In the first half of 2026, data‑centre transactions in Johor totalled RM 1 billion, including a RM 12.7 billion investment from an Australian hyper‑scale provider to build two new 280 MW facilities. The growth is driven by stable policies and investors seeking to diversify amid global geopolitical tensions.