Housing Prices in Indonesia Increasingly Unaffordable, Requiring 18.5 Years of Income

Jakarta - The ability of the public to own a home is becoming increasingly difficult. The housing affordability crisis is now a global issue. However, whether house prices are expensive or cheap is not determined by how wealthy a country is, but rather by the balance between house prices and people’s incomes.

According to the UN Habitat World Cities Report 2026, the home price-to-income ratio across 181 countries ranges from 3.0 in the most affordable nations to 86.7 in the most expensive. This ratio indicates how many years of median household income are required to purchase a median-priced home. A lower number means it is easier for people to own a home. This calculation does not yet include costs such as mortgage interest, taxes, or other ownership expenses.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the countries with the most affordable housing, each recording a ratio of 3.0. Meanwhile, the United States ranks seventh with a ratio of 4.5, performing better than Canada (9.4), Australia (7.5), and the United Kingdom (8.3). In the Gulf states, high public incomes and government-backed housing programmes make home ownership relatively easier to achieve. In the US, despite rising mortgage rates and limited housing supply, house prices remain relatively low compared to household incomes when measured against many other developed nations.

Conversely, Syria is the country with the least affordable housing market in the world, with a ratio of 86.7, followed by Sri Lanka (40.8) and China (34.6). Asian countries such as South Korea (26.0), Thailand (24.0), Vietnam (23.5), and the Philippines (30.1) are also among the nations with the most unaffordable house prices.

Indonesia ranks 166th out of 181 countries with a ratio of 18.5, far above the global average of 11.2. This means that, relatively speaking, house prices in Indonesia are far more expensive compared to the public’s purchasing power. According to the calculation, the average Indonesian household needs approximately 18.5 years of full income to buy a median-priced house, assuming all income is saved and not used for other needs. In practice, this is impossible, so the figure is used as an indicator of affordability rather than the actual time needed to purchase a home.

In Europe, several countries are also facing housing affordability pressures. Portugal (12.6), France (11.8), Luxembourg (11.5), and Germany (10.7) recorded ratios much higher than that of the United States. The report confirms that the challenge of home ownership is now global. Even high-income countries can face a housing crisis if house prices rise faster than wage growth. Conversely, some developing countries are still able to maintain housing affordability because house price increases are more in line with income growth.