Property Prices In Bali Boom As Foreign
Investment And Tourism Grow Property
Property Prices In Bali Boom As Foreign Investment And Tourism Grow Property
The demand for villas, apartments, commercial buildings and land on the island by international investors, expats and developers is seeing prices skyrocket.
New villas and apartments by rice paddie in Bali.
Research conducted by Indonesian-based property company Rumah123 shows that there is an unprecedented increase in demand for property from foreign nationals, especially in the Badung Regency area.
Bali is governed by nine regencies: Badung, Denpasar, Tabanan, Gianyar, Bangli, Buleleng, Klungkung, Karangasem, and Jembrana.
Badung Regency is home to the highest concentration of tourist attractions, resorts, and facilities. It comprises resorts like Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Canggu, Jimbaran, Uluwatu, and Nusa Dua.
Rumah123 has revealed that international demand for properties and land in Badung Regency has grown by 92%. Other areas have also seen significant growth, including Denpasar, where interest is up 81%, followed by Surabaya in Java, up 49%, and North Jakarta, also up 46%.
Speaking at a panel discussion, the Head of Research at Rumah123, Marisa Jaya, explained, “Rumah123 notes that the growth in demand for property from foreigners in 2023 experienced rapid development compared to 2022.
“The potential of the foreigner market is expected to accelerate the growth and progress of this industry even better in 2024.”
Despite huge growth, looking at figures nationally for Indonesia, South Jakarta is still ranked as the number one spot for foreigners in Indonesia. The Central Business District of the capital city is a favorite for city-slicking expats.
However, many still choose to fly into Bali just for the weekend.
The demographics of the forge in investors searching for properties in Badung Regency and Bali more broadly make for interesting reading, too.
In 2023, foreigners looking for property in Indonesia were mostly from Singapore, the United States of America, Australia, Malaysia, and Japan.
Jaya explained that policies, including the Golden Visa policy, have made it easier for foreigners to invest in property in Indonesia.
However, she noted that more policy changes could help open up the market further. She explained, “If the relaxation of policies and regulations set by the government is implemented consistently at the general and regional levels, foreigners receive sufficient [communication about changes].”
“This will stimulate a positive market response and support the growth of the national property industry in the future.”
Villa-in-Bali-from-Above
Yet, there are an increasing number of people in Bali who are opposed to and critical of this huge development boom.
Leaders, including Ex-Deputy Governor Cok Ace, have called for serious spatial planning assessments to be completed as soon as possible and for existing legislation on property development to be implemented to the letter.
Hoteliers and travel stakeholders have noted that by 2025 resorts like Canggu risk having too many hotels to keep up with demand.
This runs the risk of economic collapse and a mass exodus of businesses from the area, leaving behind a ghost town resort that just ten years ago was still a quaint coastal community dependent mostly on agriculture and community-based tourism connected to surfing.
Construction-Of-New-Apartment-Buildings-In-Bali
Local activism groups like Stop Uluwatu Destruction regularly petition online and share footage of developments they’ve observed destroying not only the area’s natural landscape but also negatively impacting local culture.
Like Canggu, Uluwatu has undergone a rapid transformation from a quiet local village and farmland to a booming tourism resort.
The area, now referred to in the tourism sector as Uluwatu, spans the Pecatu area, which is the southwestern portion of the Bukit Peninsula.
For decades, this part of the Bukit Peninsula was totally overlooked by tourists, and it was visited only by intrepid surfers who made the journey to experience for themselves the ultra-challenging Uluwatu break.
Tourists-on-Padang-Padang-Beach-in-Uluwatu-Bali
Footage shared recently by the Stop Uluwatu Destruction group illustrates the conflicts the island is facing more broadly as tourism development booms.
In the video, local resident Eva Kandra shared her deep distress that construction crews building a huge resort next to her family home and temple refused to stop noisy building work even just for a few minutes during the recent Kuningan festival so that the family could worship in peace.