How Asia really sells.

Every property deal in Asia starts with the same question: what's actually happening in this market? Keep scrolling: this story answers it, chapter by chapter, and ends at a deal.

This is Asia's property market, told as a story, in four chapters.

First the reporting, then the markets, then the listings, and finally the people who close the deals. Read it front to back, or jump to the chapter you need.

The story starts the way every good deal does: with someone asking what's really happening out there.

Anyone who has bought or sold property in Asia from abroad will tell you the same thing: the information is the hardest part. So we built a newsroom for it. Every quarter we track sales, prices, foreign buyers and unsold supply in eight markets, and write it down in plain language. This is where the story stands today.

But a headline is only half the story. The other half is the country behind it.

Most outsiders treat Asia as one market. It isn't. Indonesia is a mortgage story, Japan a currency story, Vietnam an industrial land rush. Eight countries, eight completely different games. Each has its own page with the numbers, the drivers and the ownership rules.

Explore all eight markets

And once you know the market, the story turns practical: somewhere out there is the property you came for.

Every listing here comes from a partner we verified ourselves, checked on the two things that matter: the title is real, and the rental income is proven. When you enquire, you talk directly to the person who can close the deal.

Browse all listings

Every story like this ends the same way. Not on a website, but with a handshake, between people who trust each other.

Property in Asia is a relationship business. The best deals never reach a portal. That's why we keep the network small: six partners across eight markets, each checked on licensing, track record, and how they handle title and escrow.

Meet all six partners

Read it. Know it. Find it. Close it.

That's the whole story, and it repeats every quarter with fresh reporting.

Reports on how Asia sells.

This is the newsroom of the site. Every quarter we publish a country report for each of the eight markets we follow: what sold, at what price, to whom, and what changed. In between, we write analysis on the stories that deserve more depth, and practical playbooks on how deals actually get done: how to sell to Singaporean institutions, how Manila's pre-sale machine works, why Jakarta launches succeed through agents and fail through ads. Everything is written to be read from beginning to end, the way you'd read a well-briefed colleague, not scanned like a data feed.

Jakarta skyline
Featured · Country report

Indonesia's apartment market is quietly beating every forecast

Sales have now risen for five quarters in a row. Who's buying, why the forecasts missed it, and what foreign sellers keep getting wrong.

5 August 2026 · 8 minute read
Insights · Country report · Indonesia

Indonesia's apartment market is quietly beating every forecast

North Realstate Research · 5 August 2026 · 8 minute read
Jakarta skyline at dusk

At the start of the year, most forecasts had Indonesian apartment sales flat for 2026. Interest rates were expected to stay high, the rupiah looked weak, and developers were still sitting on unsold homes from the launch wave of 2023 and 2024. Five quarters of rising sales later, those forecasts look badly out of date.

Sales in Jakarta rose 8% this quarter, the strongest result since 2019. Surabaya and Bandung were close behind. But the more interesting number is who is buying: four out of ten purchases now come from first-time buyers under 35. Foreign buyers hold steady at around one in ten.

Three things are driving it

The tax break survived. The government extended its sales-tax exemption on finished apartments, which pulled buyers back toward exactly the inventory everyone had written off. Completed homes, the slowest segment for years, are now the fastest selling.

Mortgages got easier. State banks now offer ten-year fixed rates to salaried applicants. The monthly payment on a typical Jakarta apartment has dropped roughly 14% compared with 2024 terms.

Landlords came back. Rental yields in South Jakarta are back above 6%, and short-stay operators are snapping up units near the metro at rents the resale market hasn't caught up with yet.

"Everyone modelled Indonesia as an interest-rate story. It turned out to be a tax-and-mortgage story."

What foreign sellers keep getting wrong

International developers entering the market keep setting prices by looking at Singapore and Bangkok. Indonesian buyers don't. The price a Jakarta launch can achieve is set by the mortgage payment a young professional can carry, not by regional price-per-square-metre tables.

The second mistake is underestimating the pre-sale channel. Projects that reserve a third of their units for agent-led pre-sale events consistently sell faster, and at better prices, than digital-first campaigns. Selling property in Indonesia is still a relationship business.

Our read for the rest of the year

We expect the momentum to hold through the end of the year, with one thing to watch: the tax exemption comes up for review in the November budget. If it survives, 2026 will close as Indonesia's strongest year for home sales since 2013. Our partners on the ground report launch pipelines fully booked into early 2027.

This quarter in numbers

  • Jakarta sales vs last quarter up 8%
  • Average price vs last year up 5%
  • Buyers under 35 41%
  • Foreign buyers 11%
  • Unsold supply 14 → 10 months

Eight markets. Every quarter.

These are the eight markets we follow, and together they tell the story of Asian property right now. Southeast Asia carries the growth: Indonesia and Vietnam are the momentum markets, the Philippines runs the region's most aggressive pre-sale machine, and Malaysia is quietly refilling its offices with data centres and regional headquarters. North Asia carries the money: Japan is absorbing record foreign capital on the back of a weak yen, while South Korea's offices are the tightest in the region even as its housing market cools. Thailand sits in between: the most internationalised market in Southeast Asia, and this quarter, the only one there going backwards. And Singapore watches over all of it, expensive and stable, financing deals everywhere else.

Each country page carries the quarterly numbers, the story behind them, and the ownership rules that decide what a foreigner can actually buy.

Markets · Country page

Indonesia

The region's momentum market. Updated every quarter with input from our partners in Jakarta, Surabaya and Bali.

+8%
Sales vs last quarter
+5%
Prices vs last year
11%
Foreign buyer share
10
Months of unsold supply

Five quarters of growth, and counting.

At the start of the year, nearly every forecast had Indonesian apartment sales flat for 2026. Instead, Jakarta just posted its strongest quarter since 2019, up 8%, with Surabaya and Bandung close behind. Three things carry the market: a sales-tax exemption on finished homes that survived longer than anyone expected, ten-year fixed-rate mortgages from the state banks, and rental yields in South Jakarta climbing back above 6%.

The buyers have changed too. Four out of ten purchases now come from first-time buyers under 35: young professionals for whom buying suddenly beats renting again. For foreign sellers, that's the lesson of this cycle: prices here are set by what a salaried Indonesian can pay per month, not by regional comparison tables. And the best-selling projects still move through agents and pre-sale events, not ad campaigns.

Read the full quarterly report
Jakarta

Foreign ownership, in short.

For individuals

  • Titled apartments under right-of-use 25–30 yrs, extendable
  • Bali villas, usually leasehold 25–30 yrs typical
  • Minimum price, Jakarta apartments IDR 3–5 billion

For companies

  • Commercial property and land via local entity PT PMA
  • Land title held by the entity HGB, renewable
  • Repatriation of sale proceeds Permitted
Listings · Bali, Indonesia
Cliffside villa with infinity pool
Living area
Villa exterior
Surroundings
Verified listing

Cliffside villa estate in Uluwatu

USD 1,450,000
Listed by Archipel Property Group

The essentials

  • Land 1,180 m²
  • Built area 640 m²
  • Bedrooms 5
  • Tenure Leasehold, 27 yrs + ext.
  • Rental yield last year 7.2%

Five bedrooms on the Uluwatu cliff line, with infinity pool, staff quarters and an established short-stay rental history. Sold with the management contract in place. We verified the title status and rental records before this listing went live.

The people who close the deals.

We write the reports; these six firms handle the transactions. It's a deliberate split. Property in Asia closes on relationships and local knowledge, the kind you only get from people who have worked their market for years and answer for their reputation there. Before any of them could list a single property with us, we checked three things: their licensing, their transaction track record, and how they handle title and escrow, the stage where foreign buyers most often get burned. The network is small on purpose, and it grows slowly: the newest partner joined this year after months of vetting.

Indonesia · Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya

Archipel Property Group

Homes and villa portfolios, leasehold structuring for foreign buyers, and rental management. Our longest-standing partner and our eyes on the ground in Indonesia.

Partner since 2024 · 38 active listings
Japan · Tokyo, Osaka

Kanda Estate Partners

Income-producing homes and mixed-use buildings for international investors, with full acquisition support in English.

Partner since 2025 · 21 active listings
Thailand · Bangkok, Phuket

Siam Capital Realty

New-launch allocations and branded residences. Specialists in the foreign freehold quota that governs what international buyers can own.

Partner since 2024 · 44 active listings
Malaysia & Singapore

Meridian Straits Property

Kuala Lumpur homes, Singapore shophouses and commercial buildings, plus guidance through Malaysia's residency-visa programme.

Partner since 2025 · 17 active listings
Vietnam · Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong

Saigon Landbridge

Industrial land assembly for relocating manufacturers, plus townhouses for the corporate families that follow.

Partner since 2026 · 12 active listings
Philippines · Manila, Cebu

Luzon Prime Brokers

Pre-sale tower allocations and bulk unit deals with the country's five biggest developers.

Partner since 2026 · 9 active listings

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Built to answer one question: how is it selling?

Most writing about Asian real estate is made for tourists or for banks. Nothing in between served the companies actually doing business there: the developers, brokers, funds and corporates who simply need to know how sales are moving, country by country.

North Realstate fills that gap. We publish quarterly country reports, deal analysis and practical guides across eight Asian markets, based on transaction data and what our partners see on the ground. Next to the reporting, we run a verified listing platform: partners list, we publish, buyers enquire directly.

Founded in the Netherlands, working across Asia, with roots in Indonesia, where this started.

Get in touch
Hong Kong at night

Reports first, listings second.

Step one

We follow the data

Sales volumes, prices, foreign participation and unsold supply across eight markets, refreshed every quarter with input from our partners.

Step two

We write what matters

Country reports and guides for people who work in property. No tourist content, no banking jargon: what's selling, to whom, at what price.

Step three

Partners transact

Verified local partners list on the platform. Buyers enquire with them directly; we check title status and track records before anything goes live.

Say hi.

One form for everything: listings, partnerships, press, data. Reply within two business days.

Direct

  • Email hello@northrealstate.com
  • Based in Netherlands / Indonesia
  • Coverage 8 Asian markets