Indonesian Housing Development Amidst Socioeconomic Transformation

Abstract

Housing development in Indonesia reflects its turbulent socioeconomic and political transformation. The country has seen tremendous changes in the past few decades: from the poverty stricken, post-colonial period to the prosperous oil-boom and then to the more recent period of neo-liberalization. It has blossomed from a young republic to become one of the biggest economies in the region. The population has grown from 73 million in 1945 to 237 million in 2010, while urban population has grown from 10 per cent in 1945 to 44 per cent in 2011. The country was enjoying a thriving property industry before the Asian Financial crisis hit the country hard in 1997, halting local development and paralysing industry. However, the country managed to bounce back in a relatively short period of time, survived the recent global financial crisis and eventually entered a new era of economic prosperity with an emerging middle class.