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nalysis conducted by Indonesia’s No. 1 property portal Rumah123 .com shows that suburban areas had become the most desirable areas for Indonesians to live.

Sales manager Meddy H. Papinka told a press conference that in September that suburban areas had attracted 31.75 percent, or 95,250 of a total of 300,000 visitors looking to purchase property in the near future.

Within this demographic, Depok, Cibubur, Kelapa Gading, Sunter and Bumi Serpong Damai satellite city in South Tangerang were the five most desirable Indonesian suburban dwelling destinations.

“Jabodetabek [Greater Jakarta] was followed by Surabaya and Bali, which are still the most sought after areas due to affordable prices while at the same time people are able to make their daily commutes to their places of work,” Meddy told a media briefing Wednesday.

“Depok has considerable demand, although the traffic is getting worse,” he added.

Property prices in suburban areas range from Rp 200 million (US$22,598) to Rp 500 million, attracting mostly newlywed couples aged 25 to 30 with a monthly income of between Rp 5 to Rp 10 million.

Site visitors prefer to buy a house rather than an apartment or rent a house or an apartment because, psychologically, Indonesians traditionally prefer houses rather than other types of residences. “It’s already within our culture,” Meddy said.

Shaun Di Gregorio, iProperty Group chief executive officer, Asia’s No. 1 property portal, said that the fact that Indonesians preferred to buy a house rather than an apartment or rent a house or an apartment was shocking, especially compared to other Asian countries.

“In Malaysia, those who have RM 80,000 [$25,571] to RM 160,000 only cover 22.2 percent of property seekers,” he said. “Although salaries for Malaysians is higher than Indonesians’, but ironically the trend to buy property is higher in Indonesia.”

Di Gregorio said that cheaper land prices in Indonesia could explain why many Indonesians were confident in purchasing a house.

“Land prices in Malaysia are 3 to 4 times higher than in Indonesia. A 100 meter-square plot of land costs RM 240,000,” he said, adding that for this reason Indonesia was a profitable destination for property investment, especially after property markets in Europe and the US have crashed due to the economic crisis.

“The inexpensive land prices have shown that there is steady economic growth, despite the global financial crisis,” Di Gregoria said.

Unlike Indonesia, several markets in the Asian region, including Hong Kong and Singapore, have begun to slow down because of the impact of the deep recession in western countries. “There are now concerns in China as well,” he added. (fem)