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Affordable housing pushed further and further out of city centers
Those looking for a subsidized home – the only type of property affordable to most Indonesians – must look further and further away from the city as prices rise in urban centers. And that's a big problem, experts say.
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Subsidized housing complex in Bogor, West Java, pictured in January 2020 (Antara/Yulius Satria Wijaya)
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hose looking for a subsidized home – the only type of property affordable to most Indonesians – must look further and further away from the city as prices rise in urban centers.
Tri Dewi Virgiyanti, director of housing and settlement at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), said on Thursday that most houses located near city centers were already unaffordable for an increasing number of middle-to-low-income groups.
While cheaper accommodation is available further out, living in or beyond the outskirts of the city generally means putting up with higher transportation costs and longer commutes
This is not just a personal problem, according to Dewi, but also detrimental to overall economic efficiency, while urban sprawl disrupts city planning.
“If Indonesians want to purchase a subsidized house, they will likely get it [only] in the outer layer of the city. In fact, if you want a subsidized house in Jakarta, it's impossible,” Dewi said in a webinar titled Indonesia Housing Forum.
Read also: Indonesian home prices to pick up over next two years: Moody's
It was vital to address the issue, she said, as subsidized housing comprised most of the Indonesian property market.
