While Bali has always been a popular holiday destination for Australian tourists, there now seems to be a growing appeal for luxury property investment.
For many Australians, Bali offers the opportunity to buy the types of property that they probably would not be able to afford back home – a luxury beachfront villa with a swimming pool and manicured gardens.
According to gapurabali.com, buyers in Bali can acquire a 400-500 square metre villa on roughly 1,000 square metres of land in Batu Belig near trendy Seminyak for AUS$1.5 million or less. In comparison, the median house price in Sydney now sits just under AUS $1.2 million.
This, as well as the pampered lifestyle one associates with a luxury island property, is understood to be the biggest appeal for Australian buyers in Bali.
The website reports that, based on its interview with local property agents, 4 out of 10 property customers would be Australian, with West Australians leading the pack followed by Melbourne residents. Most of these buyers are interested in holiday homes, not permanent residences.
However, under Indonesian law, foreigners cannot own freehold land title outright; instead, they can rent long-term or buy in partnership with a local.
In contrast, agents consulted for a similar report on Asharq Al-Awsat said the vast majority of their clients are Indonesian and foreign buyers tend to come from around the region such as Australia, Hong Kong, China and Singapore. Andy Gray, a partner with property vendor Seven Stones Indonesia, explained property value growth temporarily stalled in 2015 and 2016, with prices flattening for the first time in at least a decade and transaction volume dropping by about half. Karl Wilkins, a marketing executive with Paradise Property Group, observed that prices last year continued to grow, but at a lesser rate than before; around 10 or 15 percent, compared to 20 to 30 percent three to five years ago.
Featured image by Hotels.