Penang Island landed under RM2.5M in 2026 — every publishable option, honestly ranked

You've decided you want landed on Penang Island. Then someone tells you it's out of reach — either RM3M-plus Tanjung Tokong bungalows or give up and cross the bridge to Bertam.

Both are wrong.

I count around 18 publishable landed schemes on the Island today with a starting price at or under RM2.5M. Semi-Ds, terraces, cluster villas. Most of them freehold, most of them completed, and most of them not on any developer's active launch pipeline — because on Island landed under RM2.5M, "new" isn't really a category any more.

Here they all are, honestly ranked by who they actually fit.

Key takeaways:

• Around 18 publishable landed schemes on Penang Island start at or under RM2.5M in 2026. All completed, so effectively all subsale.
• 17 are freehold, 1 is leasehold (Trehaus, Bukit Jambul).
• Batu Ferringhi has five publishable options in this window — more than any single area on the Island.
• Under RM1M, your list is basically Balik Pulau and Teluk Kumbar. Anywhere central-north, RM1.3M is the honest floor.
• For a foreign buyer or MM2H holder, the useful list starts at RM1M — that is the Island foreign floor and it does not move.

Why Island landed is scarce (and why the number is 18, not 80)

Land is the whole story. Penang Island is 293 sq km, but the buildable-and-buyable footprint is much smaller than that once you strip out George Town's heritage core, the central hill reserve, the airport buffer, the FTZ and the water catchment.

For landed specifically, three things compress the map further.

Post-2017 rules restricted hillside development above 76m contour, which is where most of the north-shore land sits. The Setia Pearl Island / Sungai Ara belt, which used to churn out fresh semi-D phases every 2–3 years, is now essentially built out. And developers on the Island have shifted almost entirely to high-rise — you get 300 units on 3 acres instead of 30 landed homes on the same land, so that is what gets built.

The consequence is what you're looking at now. No meaningful new-launch landed pipeline under RM2.5M. What trades is what already exists — completed phases, subsale, and the occasional developer bulk unit that never sold at launch.

That is why this shortlist is small. It is also why it holds up.

The list — grouped by area

I'm grouping by area rather than by price, because on the Island the area is the constraint. You aren't picking between a RM1.4M Batu Ferringhi and a RM1.4M Bayan Lepas as if they're substitutes. They aren't. Buyers who want the north don't switch south, and vice versa.

One table for the whole shortlist. Everything else is prose.

Numbers are the developer's or the tracked entry-price floor. Any single 2026 subsale listing can sit above these — sometimes well above. Use these as the ground, not the market.

Batu Ferringhi — five publishable options, all freehold, all north-shore

If you want landed on the Island and you want to be north, Batu Ferringhi is where the arithmetic actually works. Five publishable schemes, all freehold, all completed, all semi-D format.

The entry tier is three projects clustered around RM1.3M–1.4M: La Ferringhi, Ferringhi Hills and Ferringhi Pearl. These are small schemes — 15 to 32 units each — which is the whole point. You are buying into a north-shore address at a price that on the Tanjung Tokong side of the Island buys you a two-bedroom high-rise.

The mid tier is Pearl Residences @ Batu Ferringhi from RM2.2M — 36 units, still semi-D, still freehold, but PSF has re-rated meaningfully because the address has hardened.

The top of this window is Island Resort Semi-D Villas from RM2.33M — only 11 units, sizes up to 6,450 sf, and the closest thing in this budget to a proper villa. When one comes up, it doesn't stay long.

The catch for the whole north-shore group is the drive. Georgetown is 20–25 minutes on a clean day, longer on Friday evenings. If your daily anchor is FTZ / Queensbay, this isn't the geography.

Sungai Ara — SP Setia country

Two projects, both SP Setia stable, both semi-D, both freehold.

Casa Rica @ Setia Greens from RM1.9M is the newer product — 60 units, completed 2024, with a three-storey variant at RM2.12M that has a built-in private lift. You are buying the brand, the low density (60 units on 11 acres), and a fresh title clock.

Isle of Palm @ Setia Pearl Island from RM2.2M is the older sibling — 30 units, completed 2018, embedded in the wider Setia Pearl Island masterplan. Bigger community, closer to the FTZ commercial spine, but you are 6 years into the estate's title clock. Both are worth walking on the same day. They feel different.

Batu Maung — the FTZ-adjacent workhorses

Sunway Cassia from RM999k and Phoenix Residences from RM1.12M are the projects that make Batu Maung the value pocket for FTZ engineers who want landed. Both freehold, both 2019 completions, both close to the second bridge, Queensbay and the airport.

Sunway Cassia's entry price sits fractionally below the RM1M Island foreign floor. That matters — a Malaysian or PR buyer can pick up the smaller Cassia layouts, a foreign buyer cannot. Pick the bigger Cassia layout or go Phoenix and the door opens.

Bayan Lepas, Bukit Jambul, Ayer Itam, Relau — the singletons

Tierra Residences at Bayan Lepas from RM1.2M is the one Bayan Lepas landed option in this window that trades with any frequency. 65 units, 2021, freehold.

Trehaus at Bukit Jambul from RM1.4M is the outlier — 72 units, 2018, and the only leasehold project on this whole list. That is why its per-square-foot rate looks the way it does. If you can live with leasehold and the lease is fresh, the location (close to IJM's own commercial anchor, one exit off the Tun Dr Lim expressway) does real work.

Urban Living Residence at Ayer Itam from RM1.899M gets you 4,492 sf of three-storey landed, freehold, close to Penang Times Square and the Ayer Itam market belt. Bigger footprint than most of this shortlist, in a genuinely central postcode.

Jasmine Residence at Relau from RM1.7M — 36 units, 2021, freehold. Relau is quieter than Bayan Baru but closer to the Bayan Lepas commercial belt than most people realise.

Under RM1M — you are looking west

Below RM1M, the map narrows sharply. Everything under RM1M on this list is either Teluk Kumbar or Balik Pulau.

One Tree Hill Residence at Teluk Kumbar from RM980k is the closest of the sub-RM1M options to the FTZ. Small — 17 units, freehold, 2021.

Balik Pulau gives you three: Elvina from RM587k, Geranium @ Botanica.CT from RM600k, and Begonia @ Botanica.CT from RM875k. All freehold, all recent, all terrace format around 1,400–2,150 sf. This is the west of the Island — the second bridge is far, the airport is far, Georgetown is properly far. The trade-off is real. But so is the number.

The RM2.5M ceiling — Nineten

Nineten at Tanjung Bungah sits right on the ceiling — RM2.5M entry, RM3.95M top — 40 units, 2013, freehold, sizes 4,800 sf and up. Include it and you are stretching. Skip it and the north-shore ceiling in your budget is Island Resort Villas.

Picking from the 18 — three buyer archetypes

Eighteen is more than you can shortlist without a filter. Try one of these three.

The upgrader — coming out of a terrace, want space and a garden

You are on the Island already. Kids, maybe a parent living with you, one or two cars, no interest in condo maintenance. You want more room and you want a title clock that hasn't already run 20 years.

The natural shortlist is Casa Rica @ Setia Greens and Isle of Palm in Sungai Ara — same developer stable, semi-D format, freehold, big-brand estate. Compare against Urban Living Residence at Ayer Itam if you want more central and more storeys, and Tierra Residences at Bayan Lepas if daily life sits closer to the FTZ. Walk all four before deciding on the layout, because they solve the same problem four different ways.

The MM2H retiree — want a garden, own-stay, north of the bridge

You've decided on the Island for the food, the medical, the lifestyle. You are not planning to sell. You want to be north because that is where you'll actually spend your days.

Your shortlist is the five Batu Ferringhi semi-Ds. Start with La Ferringhi or Ferringhi Hills if RM1.3M–1.5M is the honest budget. Step up to Ferringhi Pearl or Pearl Residences if you want the harder-held address. If you want an actual villa footprint and one comes up, Island Resort Villas is the one to watch — 11 units total, so patience is part of the price.

The foreign buyer looking for a proper Island landed under RM2M

This is the harder brief because the RM1M Island foreign floor takes half the list off the table before you start. Under RM1M is out.

What's left, ranked by how cleanly you clear the floor and how liquid the resale market is: Phoenix Residences (RM1.12M — clears the floor with margin), Tierra Residences (RM1.2M), La Ferringhi / Ferringhi Hills / Ferringhi Pearl (RM1.318M–1.4M — the north-shore option), Trehaus if you are comfortable with leasehold, then Casa Rica if you can stretch to RM1.9M. Add the 3% state levy on the full price, the flat 8% MOT stamp duty, and 3–4 months for state consent.

The trade-offs Island landed forces on you

Three, and they are structural.

Density. Almost every scheme on this list is 20 to 70 units. That is by design — Island landed doesn't scale. It also means you don't get a GTA township with three swimming pools and a clubhouse. You get a guarded community with a perimeter fence and a boom gate. If your reference point is a Sungai Ara or Batu Kawan-scale GTA, adjust the expectation.

Age of stock. Outside the four newest schemes (Casa Rica 2024, Ferringhi Hills 2024, Begonia 2025, Elvina 2025), you are buying stock that is 5 to 14 years old. A pre-purchase snag survey is not optional. Roof, wiring, plumbing, waterproofing. Budget renovation into the offer, not on top of it.

PSF vs high-rise. RM1.4M gets you a 3,000-sf freehold semi-D in Batu Ferringhi at roughly RM450 psf. The same RM1.4M in Gurney / Tanjung Tokong gets you an 800-sf two-bedroom high-rise at RM1,400 psf-plus. The landed option gives you three times the space and a garden. The high-rise gives you the address, the sea view and the elevator. It is genuinely a taste-and-lifestyle call, not a value call. Both prices are correct for what they are.

What another RM500k opens up

If you can stretch from RM2.5M to RM3M, the Island landed map roughly doubles — Nineten's mid-tier, older Tanjung Bungah bungalow subsales, Straits Residences / Straits Garden terraces on the northeast side, the upper end of Isle of Palm. You start to see the occasional bungalow rather than only semi-D.

Above RM3.5M you enter proper Tanjung Tokong / Straits Quay / Seri Tanjung Pinang bungalow country. That is a different market, and worth its own piece.

But you asked for under RM2.5M. Under RM2.5M is what's here. Eighteen projects, and I would take almost any of them over the equivalent-priced high-rise in a mass-tier tower.

FAQ

The frontmatter FAQ block covers the six queries typed most often. If your specific question isn't in there, message me on WhatsApp — most of the useful nuance lives at the individual-unit level, not the project level.

Sources and methodology

• Regulatory constants — Penang state government (foreign minimum, 3% levy), LHDN (MOT stamp duty), MM2H programme guidelines.
• Foreign floor for landed on Penang Island — RM1,000,000 per unit, does not vary by title class. Quota applies. Confirm with your buying agent and your buyer's lawyer at the offer stage.
• Prices in the table are entry-level developer or last-tracked starting prices. Live 2026 subsale listings sit above these figures in most projects. This is intentional — the point of this piece is to map the floor, not to be a live-listing feed.

Not a licensed financial advisor. Regulatory and tax figures reflect the position on 2026-09-11 and can change — verify at the SPA stage.

Talk to me before you shortlist

If you're weighing landed on the Island under RM2.5M, the shortlist you need isn't the 18 above. It is the 3–4 that actually match how you live, and specifically, the units currently on the market inside those 3–4.

That is what I do. WhatsApp me the brief — where you'll spend your days, budget ceiling, family shape, foreign or local — and I'll come back with the three units to walk first, honestly ranked, no developer copy.

Picked, not pitched.