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Text your say: Foreigners can own apartments
Your comments on the governments move to allow foreigners to own apartments in Indonesia
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our comments on the governments move to allow foreigners to own apartments in Indonesia. The government plans, however, to limit the assets to those valued at a minimum of Rp 5 billion (US$375,000).
The trouble is, is that a new president can come at any time and simply say, 'No, you need to sell.' The courts would agree and the poor investors would be duped again.
It would be better to buy property in more judicially sound countries and avoid the fickle and antiforeign sentiments that are obvious to all, despite the Indonesian government wanting your money.
Joko Ono
Property in Jakarta, especially newly developed 'luxury' condos, is a big scam that only enriches the richest of the country at the expense of the upper-middle class who buy such apartments in the belief of a never-ending rise in value.
However, what nobody seems to understand in this country is that 'quality' is the only fundament of true value ' everything else is a bubble that will burst at some point.
Who of you went recently to one of Jakarta's residential towers? At least one-third of the apartments are empty, if not even more.
Nobody is willing to pay the unjustifiably high rent for the quality of building materials used.
Furthermore, who will live in all these luxury apartments? The top 10 percent of the city already own at least three properties and the amount of high-earning expats is shrinking thanks to new Temporary Stay Permit (KITAS) regulations. So as consequence there is no yield in investment because of the rental payments ' all that property investors can hope for is an increase in property value and then sell at a higher price somewhere in the future.
The J
If they allowed foreigners to own land, there would be a real possibility of normal people making some money. If foreigners then built on this land again, normal people would once again make money in the building project.
At a local level and all over Indonesia, as it stands now it, there will be just a very few in big cities that make money, while at the local level nothing will be seen, as usual.
Phew
This is another desperate attempt to kick-start the economy. It will fail miserably for all the reasons already mentioned. Who would invest Rp 5 billion in an apartment with no land ownership, to be held to ransom by the managers of the said building to pay increased electricity and water rates, as well as security fees?
What they do need to do is change the law regarding expats married to foreigners. These people should have the right to own property here.
They are married and often have children. It disgusts me that the Indonesian wife of an expat can't own land, but the husband of an expat woman can. It's just wrong.
Huma
Indonesian property laws concerning foreigners investing in property in Indonesia is complicated. Anyone with a Stay Permit (KITAP) can own any type of apartment, or you can do it through a PMA. What this new law does is allow non-resident foreigners to own apartments.
How does it compare with other countries in Asia? No one owns freehold property in China and Hong Kong, not even locals. In Singapore, only Singaporeans can own freehold property.
In the Philippines and Thailand, it's the same as in Indonesia. Only Japan allows foreigners to own freehold property. So what the Indonesian government is doing is nothing special.
Weilim
That is still a pretty tight regulation knot. Do they think the property assets owned by foreigners with local residents are high-end apartments? No, they are not. They are normal properties that have some dirt under them.
It will just get to the point where foreigners can own property but not a speck of the earth under them.
That will leave Indonesia with the ability to take the earth away from under any foreigners' feet, leaving them with nothing, since the structure can't float in midair. With the jack up in prices for foreigners, one remains better off to just rent.
X Simaging
SMS
I agree that foreigners should be able to own apartments as in other countries, like neighboring countries Malaysia and Singapore. They just own apartments, not the land or the country.
E Nurdin
Jakarta
