Buying and owning a property as a foreigner in Makassar (2026)

Authored by the expert who managed and guided the team behind the Indonesia Property Pack

Everything you need to know before buying real estate is included in our Indonesia Property Pack

What can I legally buy and truly own as a foreigner in Makassar?

What property types can foreigners legally buy in Makassar right now?

As a foreigner in Makassar in 2026, you can legally buy residential property, but your options are limited to specific right types: landed houses held under Hak Pakai (Right to Use) and strata-title apartment units, as long as you meet Indonesia's immigration and minimum price requirements.

The single most important legal condition that applies to foreign buyers in Makassar is that you cannot hold a standard freehold title (Hak Milik) in your own name, which means your ownership, while legally real and registrable, is structured differently from what most foreign buyers assume.

In practice, this means that for a landed house in Makassar, you will be registered as the holder of a Hak Pakai right (not freehold), and for an apartment unit, you will hold a strata title under the Indonesian apartment ownership framework, known as HMSRS, provided the unit meets the minimum price threshold for South Sulawesi, which is set at IDR 2 billion (around USD 125,000 or EUR 115,000) for landed houses as of early 2026.

Because many mainstream houses in Makassar's mid-range neighborhoods sit right around that IDR 2 billion mark, foreigners often find themselves being pushed toward newer developments, upper-mid-segment clusters, or the coastal corridor areas like Tanjung Bunga rather than entry-level residential housing.

Finally, please note that our pack about the property market in Makassar is specifically tailored to foreigners.

Can I own land in my own name in Makassar right now?

In almost all standard situations, a foreign individual cannot hold freehold land title (Hak Milik) in their own name in Makassar or anywhere in Indonesia.

The clearly legal alternative for foreigners who want to own a landed home in Makassar is to hold the property under Hak Pakai, which is a formally registered land right that gives you real, enforceable ownership, but within the Indonesian land-rights framework rather than as outright freehold.

Hak Pakai for foreigners is not a workaround or a grey area: it is explicitly recognized under Indonesian law, it is registrable at the land office (BPN), and it can be inherited, transferred, or pledged as mortgage security, all within the eligibility rules that apply to foreign holders.

As of 2026, what other key foreign-ownership rules or limits should I know in Makassar?

As of early 2026, the two rules that most often affect foreign purchases in Makassar beyond the title type are the minimum price floor (IDR 2 billion for a landed house in South Sulawesi) and the requirement to hold valid Indonesian immigration documents at the time of purchase, both of which are tied to PP No. 18/2021.

There is no explicit foreigner quota rule for apartments in Makassar the way there is in some countries, but the strata-title units available to foreigners must still meet the minimum price thresholds set by the ATR/BPN decree, which effectively limits the eligible stock to mid-range and upper-range units in newer buildings.

There is no separate foreign-buyer approval process unique to Makassar, but the transfer registration at the local land office (BPN Makassar) does require that the buyer's immigration documents and title eligibility be confirmed before the certificate can be updated in the foreigner's name.

There are no major new restrictions introduced specifically for Makassar in 2025 or early 2026, but Indonesia's land administration system is undergoing ongoing digitization under the ATR/BPN electronic certification program, which means some procedural steps around certificate issuance and verification are becoming faster and more traceable in 2026.

What's the biggest ownership mistake foreigners make in Makassar right now?

The single biggest ownership mistake foreigners make in Makassar is relying on a nominee structure, where the property is registered in an Indonesian national's name while the foreigner relies on side contracts or private agreements to "protect" their investment.

If that arrangement breaks down (whether through a dispute, the nominee's death, a divorce, or simply a change of mind), the foreigner's "ownership" becomes a contract claim rather than a registered property right, which means the foreigner has no clean legal standing to the asset itself and faces a difficult and expensive legal battle with no guaranteed outcome.

Beyond nominee risk, other classic pitfalls specifically in Makassar include buying in coastal or reclamation-adjacent zones (like parts of the Tanjung Bunga or CPI corridor) without properly checking spatial planning and permitted residential use, and signing a deposit or preliminary agreement before verifying the certificate at the land office, which can lock you into a deal on a property that turns out to have unresolved liens, unclear boundaries, or a title type that cannot be converted to Hak Pakai for a foreigner.

Which visa or residency status changes what I can do in Makassar?

Do I need a specific visa to buy property in Makassar right now?

In Makassar in February 2026, you do not need a specific visa to negotiate or agree on a purchase, but you must hold valid Indonesian immigration documents at the point of actually registering the property in your name, which in practice means a tourist visa alone is unlikely to be sufficient for completing the ownership transfer.

The most common administrative blocker for foreigners without local residency is that banks and notaries (PPAT) involved in the transaction expect to see immigration documents that establish a legal basis for your presence in Indonesia, and a short-stay visa-on-arrival may not satisfy this requirement for the registration step.

On the tax ID question, having an Indonesian NPWP (Nomor Pokok Wajib Pajak, or taxpayer identification number) is not always a hard legal prerequisite for a cash purchase, but in practice the notary, the BPHTB payment process, and any bank involved will typically ask for it, and not having one can slow down or complicate the closing significantly.

A typical document set for a foreign buyer completing a purchase in Makassar includes a valid passport, proof of valid immigration status (such as a KITAS or qualifying long-stay visa), a tax ID (NPWP) if available, and the relevant identity verification required by the PPAT notary handling the transfer deed.

Does buying property help me get residency and citizenship in Makassar in 2026?

As of early 2026, buying property in Makassar does not automatically give you residency or citizenship in Indonesia, and the two processes are entirely separate.

Indonesia does not have a formal "golden visa" program that grants residency directly in exchange for a property purchase the way some European countries do, though the government has introduced a Second Home Visa (Visa Rumah Kedua) that allows certain foreign nationals to stay for up to 5 to 10 years and which may require evidence of property ownership or significant financial assets as part of the eligibility criteria.

For long-term residency without investor-visa routes, the most common pathways include a KITAS (temporary stay permit) tied to employment or family sponsorship, and eventually a KITAP (permanent stay permit) after meeting multi-year residency requirements, while Indonesian citizenship through naturalization requires a much longer period of continuous lawful residency and is rarely pursued by foreign property buyers.

Can I legally rent out property on my visa in Makassar right now?

As a foreign owner in Makassar, you can generally rent out residential property you legally hold regardless of your specific visa category, because the right to derive rental income follows the ownership right rather than being restricted by visa type specifically.

You do not need to be physically present in Indonesia to rent out your Makassar property, and many foreign owners manage their rentals remotely through a local property manager or trusted representative, which is common practice in the city.

The important caveats are that rental income is taxable in Indonesia under PPh Pasal 4(2) as a final tax object, meaning you or your tenant (if it is a company) will need to handle withholding and reporting, and if you plan short-term or Airbnb-style rentals rather than standard long-term leases, you may run into building management restrictions or local licensing requirements that apply to commercial-use activity in residential buildings.

We cover everything there is to know about buying and renting out in Makassar here.

How does the buying process actually work step-by-step in Makassar?

What are the exact steps to buy property in Makassar right now?

The standard purchase sequence in Makassar in 2026 is: confirm the property qualifies for foreign purchase (right type + meets IDR 2 billion floor), run preliminary checks on the title and zoning, negotiate price and terms, sign a preliminary sale agreement (PPJB) with a controlled deposit only after checks are done, execute the transfer deed (AJB) before a PPAT notary with all taxes and fees settled, and then register the transfer and updated certificate at the local BPN land office.

You do not have to be physically present for every step, as many parts of the process can be handled through a properly drafted power of attorney (Surat Kuasa), but there will typically be at least one identity-critical moment (especially if a bank mortgage is involved) where originals or biometric verification are required.

The step that makes the deal legally binding for both buyer and seller in Makassar is the signing of the Akta Jual Beli (AJB), which is the formal transfer deed executed before the PPAT notary and which cannot be undone without legal process once signed and witnessed.

End-to-end, a typical Makassar property purchase takes between 4 and 12 weeks from accepted offer to completed BPN registration, with cash deals typically faster and transactions involving a bank mortgage or title conversion steps taking longer.

We have a document entirely dedicated to the whole buying process our pack about properties in Makassar.

Is it mandatory to get a lawyer or a notary to buy a property in Makassar right now?

In Makassar, involving a PPAT notary is effectively mandatory for any property purchase because the transfer deed (AJB) must be drawn up and executed by a licensed PPAT (Pejabat Pembuat Akta Tanah) for the title transfer to be valid and registrable at BPN, whereas hiring a separate property lawyer is not legally required but is strongly advisable for foreign buyers navigating Hak Pakai structures or complex transactions.

The key practical difference in Makassar is that the PPAT notary's role is procedural and transactional (drafting the deed, verifying documents, and managing the BPN registration), while a property lawyer's role is advisory (protecting your interests, reviewing the contract terms, and flagging legal risks before you commit).

One item that should always be explicitly included in the lawyer's engagement scope for a foreign buyer in Makassar is a review of the property's title type to confirm it is convertible or already suitable for Hak Pakai registration in a foreigner's name, because buying a property with the wrong title type is one of the most expensive and hard-to-fix mistakes you can make.

What checks should I run so I don't buy a problem property in Makassar?

How do I verify title and ownership history in Makassar right now?

To verify title and ownership history in Makassar in 2026, you should use the official ATR/BPN certificate-checking service, which allows you (or your PPAT notary) to confirm what is actually registered at the land office against what the seller is showing you.

The key document to request is the physical land certificate (Sertipikat Hak Atas Tanah), and specifically you want to check the right type (is it Hak Milik, Hak Pakai, Hak Guna Bangunan?), the registered owner name, and the recorded boundaries to make sure they match what you are actually being sold.

A reasonable look-back for ownership history in Makassar is at least the last two registered transfers, because this lets you spot if the property changed hands unusually quickly or under circumstances that could indicate a dispute, an unresolved estate matter, or a forced sale.

A clear red flag that should pause or stop a purchase in Makassar is discovering that the certificate name does not match the seller's identity documents, or that there are annotations on the certificate indicating a lien, a court hold, or a pending legal dispute, any of which means you should not pay a deposit until the matter is fully resolved in writing.

You will find here the list of classic mistakes people make when buying a property in Makassar.

How do I confirm there are no liens in Makassar right now?

The standard way to confirm no liens exist on a Makassar property is to ask your PPAT notary to run a certificate check through ATR/BPN, which will reveal whether any Hak Tanggungan (mortgage security right) or other encumbrance is currently registered against the title.

The most common type of encumbrance you should specifically ask about in Makassar is an existing bank mortgage (Hak Tanggungan), because it is very common for sellers to still have an active loan against the property they are selling, and if this is not cleared before or at closing, it can follow the title to you as the new owner.

The best written proof of lien-free status in Makassar is either a clean ATR/BPN certificate-check result showing no registered encumbrances, or, if the seller had a mortgage, a formal written release (Roya) from the lending bank confirming the debt has been fully settled and the security right cancelled.

How do I check zoning and permitted use in Makassar right now?

To check zoning and permitted use for a property in Makassar in 2026, you should consult the city's spatial planning authority (Dinas Tata Ruang Kota Makassar) and review the Rencana Tata Ruang Wilayah (RTRW), which is Makassar's official spatial planning map that defines what each zone is designated for.

The document that most directly confirms the zoning classification for a specific property in Makassar is the Keterangan Rencana Kota (KRK), a city planning statement that can be requested from the local government and that specifies what the land is officially designated for and what building or use types are permitted on it.

One common zoning pitfall that foreign buyers in Makassar frequently miss is purchasing property in the coastal development corridor (especially around Tanjung Bunga or the Center Point of Indonesia area) without checking whether the plot sits in a zone with coastal or reclamation-adjacent use restrictions, which can limit what you can build, renovate, or even insure on the property even if the title itself is clean.

Can I get a mortgage as a foreigner in Makassar, and on what terms?

Do banks lend to foreigners for homes in Makassar in 2026?

As of early 2026, some Indonesian banks do lend to foreigners for residential property, but it is not the default, the underwriting is stricter than for local borrowers, and availability at Makassar branches specifically depends on whether the branch supports the expat lending workflow and whether the collateral structure (Hak Pakai title) is accepted by the lender.

For foreign borrowers who do qualify, loan-to-value ratios in Makassar typically fall in the range of 50% to 70%, meaning you can expect to put down at least 30% to 50% of the purchase price as a down payment, which is meaningfully higher than the typical down payment required of Indonesian borrowers for the same property type.

The single most common eligibility requirement that determines whether a foreigner qualifies for a mortgage in Makassar is having a provable income source, ideally tied to employment or business activity in Indonesia, because banks are much less willing to lend against foreign income alone, particularly from jurisdictions they have less visibility into.

Which banks are most foreigner-friendly in Makassar in 2026?

As of early 2026, the most publicly documented foreigner-friendly mortgage option in Indonesia is Permata Bank, which launched a dedicated expatriate mortgage program in 2025, while large national banks like Bank Mandiri and BCA may finance foreigners on a case-by-case basis but do not have a standardized expat mortgage product in the way Permata does.

What makes Permata Bank stand out for foreign borrowers is that it has built an explicit workflow around expatriate income documentation and Hak Pakai collateral, rather than expecting foreigners to fit into the standard Indonesian borrower template, which is the main structural barrier at most other banks.

Even at the most foreigner-friendly banks, non-residents (foreigners without Indonesian residency status such as a KITAS) face an even higher bar, and in practice most successful expat mortgage applications in Indonesia involve borrowers who are living and working in the country under a valid stay permit rather than purely offshore buyers.

We actually have a specific document about how to get a mortgage as a foreigner in our pack covering real estate in Makassar.

What mortgage rates are foreigners offered in Makassar in 2026?

As of early 2026, foreign borrowers in Makassar who qualify for a mortgage can expect an effective annual interest rate in the range of 9% to 13%, typically floating after any short promotional fixed period, which reflects Bank Indonesia's benchmark rate of 4.75% (as of December 2025) plus a significant lending margin that accounts for the higher risk and documentation complexity that banks associate with foreign borrowers.

For fixed-rate versus floating-rate mortgages in Makassar, fixed rates (if offered) tend to be set for only a short initial period (commonly 1 to 3 years) at a slightly lower promotional rate, after which the loan reverts to a floating rate tied to the bank's prime lending rate (SBDK), which means the total cost of borrowing over a full 15 or 20-year tenure is almost always floating-rate-dominated regardless of the initial structure.

What will taxes, fees, and ongoing costs look like in Makassar?

What are the total closing costs as a percent in Makassar in 2026?

For a typical resale property in Makassar in 2026, the buyer should budget total closing costs of roughly 6% to 9% of the purchase price, though this can rise to 8% to 18% for new-build purchases from a developer depending on how VAT and other taxes are structured into the price.

The realistic range for most standard Makassar resale transactions (whether a house or apartment) sits at 6% to 9% on the buyer side, with the lower end applying to straightforward cash transactions with a simple title and the higher end reflecting more complex documentation, higher-value properties, or transactions requiring additional steps like title conversion.

The main fee categories that make up total closing costs in Makassar are the BPHTB acquisition tax (around 5% of the taxable base), notary and PPAT fees (typically 1% to 2%), and smaller fixed costs like document stamps, certificate checks, and any translation or authentication fees.

The single largest contributor to closing costs in Makassar is the BPHTB (Bea Perolehan Hak atas Tanah dan Bangunan), the local land and building acquisition tax, which at roughly 5% of the transaction base typically accounts for more than half of the total buyer-side closing cost.

If you want to go into more details, we also have a blog article detailing all the property taxes and fees in Makassar.

What annual property tax should I budget in Makassar in 2026?

As of early 2026, annual property tax (PBB-P2) in Makassar for a standard owner-occupied home is quite modest by international standards: for a property purchased at around IDR 2 billion (roughly USD 125,000 or EUR 115,000), a realistic annual budget is IDR 1 million to IDR 5 million per year (around USD 60 to USD 310, or EUR 55 to EUR 285), depending on the NJOP assessed value, the building size, and the neighborhood.

Annual property tax in Makassar is assessed as a percentage rate applied to the NJOP (Nilai Jual Objek Pajak), which is the government's assessed value of the property and which is typically lower than the actual transaction price, meaning the effective tax rate against what you paid is usually even lower than the headline rate suggests.

How is rental income taxed for foreigners in Makassar in 2026?

As of early 2026, rental income from land and buildings in Makassar is subject to PPh Pasal 4(2) as a final income tax, with the standard withholding rate for land and building rentals set at 10% of gross rent, applied as a final tax meaning no further income tax is owed on that amount at the annual return level.

For a foreign owner renting out property in Makassar, the basic compliance requirement is that if your tenant is a company or a withholding agent, they are responsible for deducting and remitting the 10% tax directly to the tax authority on your behalf, but if your tenant is an individual, the responsibility to report and pay this tax falls on you as the owner, which is something to discuss with a local tax adviser before your first lease agreement.

What insurance is common and how much in Makassar in 2026?

As of early 2026, a standard home building insurance policy in Makassar typically costs between IDR 1.5 million and IDR 4.5 million per year (roughly USD 90 to USD 280, or EUR 85 to EUR 260) for a building insured at around IDR 1.5 billion, with contents coverage and add-ons priced separately on top of this base.

The most common base coverage for homeowners in Makassar is FLEXAS insurance (Fire, Lightning, Explosion, Aircraft impact, Smoke), which covers the building structure against these standard perils and is usually the minimum required by mortgage lenders, while earthquake and flood add-ons are strongly recommended given Sulawesi's seismic activity and Makassar's low-lying flood-prone pockets.

The single biggest factor that makes insurance premiums higher for the same property type in Makassar is location: properties in flood-prone lower-lying areas (particularly in parts of Tamalate or low-lying zones near the coast) or in seismically exposed areas attract meaningfully higher premiums, especially if earthquake cover is added, while properties in elevated residential clusters in areas like Panakkukang or Biringkanaya tend to sit at the lower end of the premium range.

What sources have we used to write this blog article?

Whether it's in our blog articles or the market analyses included in our property pack about Makassar, we always rely on the strongest methodology we can ... and we don't throw out numbers at random.

We also aim to be fully transparent, so below we've listed the authoritative sources we used, and explained how we used them and the methods behind our estimates.