With 2024 behind us, it’s time to review trends and forecast the property market for Bali investment and Lombok opportunities.
The 2024 season has seen a lot of construction in Bali and Lombok. Several projects have been finalized, and others are in construction. What will the 2025 property market in Bali and Lombok look like? Is it still time to invest in Bali, or should people start looking at other investment places?
Bali Property Market in 2024 and 2025
Retrospective for 2024
Bali is a heterogeneous market, progressing differently depending on the zone. The average occupancy rate remains stable compared to 2023, even as the number of listings in Bali grows. This trend highlights the strength of Bali investment opportunities, driven by a rising influx of tourists from Asia, including India and China, consistently following Australia in monthly visitor entries. July and August are still top of the season, with travellers from the north hemisphere having their holidays.
Interesting fact: listings are still relatively generating the same amount of gross income on average, which seems to affect the ROI while prices have significantly increased in the last 2 years. Property listed in 2022 and 2023 were bought during the Covid or at the end of the period.
2024 has seen Uluwatu emerging and attracting a lot of purchases and constructions. Despite environmental issues like water shortages and cliff erosion, Uluwatu, Bingin, and Melati have seen rapid development, thanks to their white sand beaches and surf spots. However, the market in Uluwatu continues to offer a lower occupancy rate than Canggu and Seminyak. Indeed, those two last offer the highest score and occupancy in the South of Bali, continuing to attract tourists worldwide, especially Indian and Asian clientele in Seminyak.
Ubud has been in 2024 one of the leading locations with a development in all the surrounding and unfortunately sometimes acquisition on some green zone, normally non constructible.
Read More : How to buy a property in Bali?
Invest in Bali in 2025
The moratorium announced at the end of 2024, during the election period, did not stop buyers from investing and developments in Bali. Constructions for Bali investment projects are ongoing, with most lacking building permits or only an application number. They go around the regulation by getting SLF and magically a PBG after the SLF has been issued. The president’s last words during a speech had, per objective, to make Bali similar to Hong Kong and Singapore. Developers and professionals have for some time interpreted those words for a green light to continue the development as it is.
Bali investment opportunities remain strong. The island continues to break visitor records, attracting millions of tourists from Australia, Southeast Asia, India, the US, and Europe. The trend shows no signs of slowing down as many celebrate the new year in Bali.
The current trend of listing is not stopping investors. However, the price has reached a certain level, affecting the return on investment. While it was easy to get 15% or 20% return in 2024, the advertisement of some developers at 15% is now very optimistic.
- With more listings and new developments, competition will rise, and 2025 may not see tourist numbers match the growth in properties.
- Rising land and villa prices, with stable nightly rates, challenge ROI, making it harder for property managers to achieve 9-15% returns.
- Poor construction and maintenance quality also impact ROI, as recent rains exposed issues in some properties.
- Coretax is now on and the Indonesian government has connected all institutions to control more the tax.
Despite those factors, Bali will remain the leading market in Indonesia for 2025 and for the next few years. However, it is more than crucial for investors to select the location and optimize their taxes properly. Bali is the leader but other islands like Lombok have emerged considerably in 2024.
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Lombok Property Market in 2024 and 2025
Retrospective for 2024
If one market had to be qualified as a challenger in 2024, it would undoubtedly be Lombok. The island has attracted investors from all over the world. The island has changed and Kuta Lombok welcomes and connects tourists with its beautiful landscape and white sand beaches.
- Lombok has a lower price than Bali and the market entry price is more accessible.
- Most transactions in Bali are on Freehold, with lease extensions becoming problematic.
- Some investors are moving away due to traffic and the loss of Bali’s charm.
- Land with a sea view is cheaper in Lombok than in Bali, where it now costs millions.
All those factors have also attracted tourists to stay in Lombok. Lombok’s occupancy rate is lower than Bali’s, but during peak season, especially in July and August, it can reach nearly 70%, higher than Bali’s.
The income per listing is lower in Lombok than in Bali, but considering acquisition costs, Lombok shows a higher ROI in 2024.
Lombok has changed its communication strategy with a welcoming airport and better and more recent infrastructure for cars than Bali. Its like a sense of Bali (10 years ago) than investors look at and will undoubtedly be still competing with Bali in 2025.
Invest in Lombok in 2025
If you’re considering Bali investment in 2025, Lombok stands out as an excellent alternative. The prices remain attractive, and the availability of land and prime locations offers incredible opportunities for dream projects and investors alike.
However Lombok still needs improvement to reinsure investors and avoid scams in 2024. The market needs to become more professional. It is not rate to see properties sold without any proper check road access, construction eligibility, ownership, unsecured contract.
The trend is certainly more tourists and investors coming during the spring season. The price shall rise a bit, and early birds will be allowed to cash out by reselling some land or renting out their properties to the new trendy tourist island.
