Affordability calculator
The deposit is the number everyone saves for. It is rarely more than half of what you need at the table. Set your figures below and the calculator works out the instalment, the interest over the tenure, and the cash required on completion including duty and legal fees.
Estimated monthly instalment
RM 3,320.59
360 monthly payments at 4.25% per annum
- Loan amount
- RM 675,000
- Margin of finance
- 90%
- Total interest over the tenure
- RM 520,414
- Total repayment
- RM 1,195,414
Cash needed up front
RM 115,965
Deposit plus transaction costs, before any renovation, furnishing or moving budget.
- Down payment
- RM 75,000
- MOT stamp dutyTiered ad valorem duty on the transfer
- RM 16,500
- SPA legal feesScale fee on the purchase price
- RM 8,750
- Loan agreement stamp duty0.5% of the loan sum
- RM 3,375
- Loan documentation legal feesScale fee on the loan sum
- RM 8,000
- Service tax on legal fees8% on both sets of professional fees
- RM 1,340
- Disbursements allowanceSearches, registration, printing and courier
- RM 3,000
- Total transaction costs
- RM 40,965
On these figures the transaction costs come to roughly 5.5% of the purchase price. Some lenders will absorb the loan-side duty and fees into the facility, which lowers the cash you need at the table and raises the instalment above.
This is an estimate, not a loan offer and not financial advice. It is an arithmetic model built on the assumptions set out below. It is not an approval in principle, an offer of credit, or a quotation of fees. Only a bank can tell you what you may borrow, and only your solicitor can tell you what your duties and fees will actually be.
What the calculator assumes
We would rather show the working than hand you a number with no provenance. Everything below is applied exactly as written. If your own transaction differs — a developer rebate, an exemption, a corporate purchaser, a lender that prices differently — the output will differ too.
Monthly instalment
A standard amortising loan, level instalments, interest compounded monthly, no lock-in charge and no prepayment.
M = P × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)−n)
- P — loan amount, being the price less your down payment
- r — the annual rate divided by twelve
- n — the tenure in months
Total interest is the sum of the instalments less the loan amount. Because most Malaysian housing loans float against the bank’s Standardised Base Rate, a fixed-rate projection over thirty years is illustrative rather than predictive. Move the rate a point in each direction to see the sensitivity.
MOT stamp duty
Ad valorem duty on the Memorandum of Transfer is banded, so a higher band applies only to the slice of the price falling inside it. It is charged on the price or on the market value assessed by the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH), whichever is higher — this calculator uses the price.
| Portion of price | Rate |
|---|---|
| First RM 100,000 | 1% |
| Next RM 400,000 (RM 100,001 – RM 500,000) | 2% |
| Next RM 500,000 (RM 500,001 – RM 1,000,000) | 3% |
| Balance above RM 1,000,000 | 4% |
A further ad valorem duty of 0.5% is charged on the loan or facility agreement, calculated on the loan sum.
Legal fees
Conveyancing fees in Malaysia follow a prescribed scale. The calculator applies it twice — once to the purchase price for the Sale and Purchase Agreement, and once to the loan sum for the loan documentation — with a minimum of RM 500 per matter, then adds 8% service tax on the professional fees.
| Portion of consideration | Rate |
|---|---|
| First RM 500,000 | 1.25% |
| Next RM 500,000 | 1.00% |
| Next RM 2,000,000 | 0.70% |
| Next RM 2,000,000 | 0.60% |
| Next RM 2,500,000 | 0.50% |
| Balance above RM 7,500,000 | 0.50%, negotiable |
A flat RM 3,000 allowance covers both sets of disbursements: land and bankruptcy searches, land office registration, stamping, printing and courier. Actual disbursements vary by firm, by state land office and by whether the title is individual or strata.
What is not included
- The bank's valuation fee and the report it commissions.
- MRTA or MLTA mortgage insurance, and fire insurance on the building.
- Quit rent and assessment apportioned to you from the completion date, and any outstanding maintenance charges or sinking fund on a strata property.
- Utility and management office deposits, meter transfers and reconnection.
- Renovation, defect rectification, grilles, water heaters and furnishing.
- Any real property gains tax, which falls on the disposer rather than the buyer.
- Budget-linked stamp duty exemptions for first-time buyers below a stated price ceiling. These have been offered in most recent years, but the ceiling and the qualifying conditions change, so we do not bake an assumption about them into the arithmetic.
Duties, scale fees, service tax and exemption thresholds are set by statute and revised from time to time, most often at the Federal Budget, and several of them differ from state to state. The figures this page produces are an estimate for planning purposes only. They are not legal, tax or financial advice, not an offer of credit, and not a quotation of fees. Confirm your own position with your solicitor, your bank and a licensed tax agent before you pay a booking fee or sign anything.
Want the figure for a specific property?
Send us the listing and your rough budget. We will run the same arithmetic against the actual asking price, flag anything on the title or the tenure that a lender will react to, and refer you to a mortgage adviser who can give you an indicative approval before you commit a booking fee.
Still working out the process rather than the price? Read the buying and cost questions or our market notes.