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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
That's the whole story, and it repeats every quarter with fresh reporting.
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.
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 readAt 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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
The region's momentum market. Updated every quarter with input from our partners in Jakarta, Surabaya and Bali.
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 reportEvery property on this page was listed by a local partner we verified ourselves, and checked before publication on the two things that matter most: that the title is what the seller claims, and that any income figures are backed by real rental records. That's why this page holds nine listings and not nine hundred: we would rather show you a small number of properties we can stand behind than a wall of listings nobody has looked at. When you enquire, you talk directly to the listing partner: the person who knows the property, the neighbourhood and the paperwork.
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.
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.
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 listingsIncome-producing homes and mixed-use buildings for international investors, with full acquisition support in English.
Partner since 2025 · 21 active listingsNew-launch allocations and branded residences. Specialists in the foreign freehold quota that governs what international buyers can own.
Partner since 2024 · 44 active listingsKuala Lumpur homes, Singapore shophouses and commercial buildings, plus guidance through Malaysia's residency-visa programme.
Partner since 2025 · 17 active listingsIndustrial land assembly for relocating manufacturers, plus townhouses for the corporate families that follow.
Partner since 2026 · 12 active listingsPre-sale tower allocations and bulk unit deals with the country's five biggest developers.
Partner since 2026 · 9 active listingsWe verify, you list, and enquiries come straight to you.
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 touchSales volumes, prices, foreign participation and unsold supply across eight markets, refreshed every quarter with input from our partners.
Country reports and guides for people who work in property. No tourist content, no banking jargon: what's selling, to whom, at what price.
Verified local partners list on the platform. Buyers enquire with them directly; we check title status and track records before anything goes live.
One form for everything: listings, partnerships, press, data. Reply within two business days.