Politics
Kuala Lumpur Affordable Housing Levy Referendum: Property Buyers Pay Extra While Low-Income Households in Cheras and Kepong Gain Units
The proposed 0.75 percent levy on property sales above RM800,000 would direct RM1.8 billion over five years toward 8,000 new units managed by Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, raising costs for buyers in Bukit Tunku and Mont Kiara while expanding rental options for households earning below RM4,000 monthly.
How we reported this
The Kuala Lumpur City Hall referendum on 15 August 2026 asks residents to approve an Affordable Housing Levy that would add 0.75 percent to the purchase price of any residential property sold for more than RM800,000 within the federal territory. Proceeds would fund construction of 8,000 income-restricted units, with 3,200 allocated to Cheras and 2,800 to Kepong under the 2026-2030 DBKL Housing Master Plan.
Why the measure reaches voters now
DBKL recorded 47,000 households on its public housing waiting list at the end of 2025, up from 39,000 in 2023, while the average transaction price for terrace houses crossed RM950,000 in the first quarter of 2026. The levy proposal appears on the ballot after the Federal Territories Ministry required local governments to submit dedicated revenue sources before releasing matching grants for new public housing blocks.
Households earning under RM4,000 a month stand to qualify for the new units at rents capped at RM650, with priority given to those already living in the two target districts. Buyers of higher-value homes in Bukit Tunku and Mont Kiara would pay an additional RM9,000 to RM15,000 at settlement, depending on final sale price, according to the draft legislation published by DBKL on 2 June 2026.
Effects on household budgets and local services
A family renting in Chow Kit that moves into a new Kepong unit would reduce monthly housing costs by roughly RM400, freeing funds that the 2025 DBKL Cost of Living Survey shows are currently spent on private transport to reach jobs in the city centre. Property owners who sell units above the threshold would receive no rebate, but first-time buyers below the income cap could apply for a separate RM30,000 grant administered by the same program.
The legislation states that funds cannot be diverted to road or drainage works, limiting benefits to households that meet strict eligibility checks conducted by DBKL’s Housing Department. Analysts at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia note that the levy would apply only to transactions recorded after 1 January 2027, leaving current owners unaffected until they sell.
Voters will decide the measure through a simple majority in the federal territory’s 11 parliamentary constituencies. If approved, DBKL expects the first 1,500 units to be completed by December 2028, with allocation lotteries conducted in the presence of representatives from the Malaysian Bar Council to ensure transparency.