Generally townhouses are not as popular as other types of houses in Malaysia. Townhouses are two properties built on the same piece of land, normally the lower unit occupies the ground and part of the first floor, while the top unit occupies the remainder of the first floor and the remainder second floor.

Most of the time the owner of the lower unit is different from the owner of the top unit. Townhouses are different from condominiums or apartments. In other countries, townhouses are also known as row houses. Some townhouses have amenities in the community such as playgrounds and tennis courts.

The characteristics of a townhouse include a small frontage onto a street or thoroughfare and a yard of some kind behind. It is strata property where each of the owner been issued with strata title. The first townhouses in Petaling Jaya were built in Section 20 Jalan 20/7 two properties built on the same piece of land, where upper floor and lower floor with different land titles.