Mapping the housing needs of the urban middle class in greater Jakarta

Abstract

The housing affordability discourses have long been focusing on the low income community. However, the middle class in Indonesia are beginning to experience their own brand of affordability problems, fuelled by the skyrocketing house market price and the wage stagnancy issue. This research expects to map the housing needs of the middle class, including the average combined income and desired house price for middle class families in Greater Jakarta. The survey also inquired current residencies and aspirational location of the respondents, which was used to create a mapping as evidence for future housing policies. This data was analysed quantitatively and elaborated descriptively with consideration to the socio-economic condition of the middle class. The result shows that middle class families with combined income of more than seven million rupiah aspire to buy houses out of Jakarta Province with proper surrounding facility, and are willing to allocate housing budget of more than five hundred million rupiah. This research recommends an improvement to the housing development policies in greater Jakarta and reiterates the importance of new regulation on long term rent as a secure tenure alternative.