Cost of living in Indonesia - 2017

Much of the reply will be a "How long is a piece of string" thing because much depends on your interests and lifestyle.
Someone who likes to go drinking in Jakarta is going to spend a lot of money because drinks are costly and there is a lot of temptation to give in to the temptations offered by the girls who hang around in bars, and they're expensive to keep even if they aren't charging for their services.
The same goes for housing - the expat with a brain will chose a smaller house in a secured estate (if they're paying for it themselves), but a lot go for flats in "expat" blocks that cost a lot of money but are often of a lesser standard than a nice house.
Paying for goods and services also depends on the buyer rather than the price. Inexperience and/or gullible expats tend to pay top dollar for things where as the more canny soon learns to negotiate prices down to something more reasonable.

Prices in Jakarta and the surrounding area have increased dramatically over the last few years, especially house prices but rice and other essentials have also increased a lot, often to double what they were just a few years ago.

Schools vary a lot.
A reasonable national plus where English is used as a daily language starts at something about a million per month with an initial fee of around 20 million.
International schools doing Cambridge IGCSEs start at 3 million per month to prices you'd think were telephone numbers.

How much does it cost to fill up your car’s fuel tank?

There are several types of petrol available but Premium is the most common and it works fine in most motorbikes and smaller cars.
It's cheap, meaning a full tank tends to cost between 200 and 300 thousand Rupiah.

I recommend as small a car as you can get away with, but I also know family needs have to be satisfied when it comes to a choice of car.
Sports cars use a lot of fuel but travel at exactly the same speed in a traffic jam so the things are pointless in Jakarta.

How much does it cost to rent an apartment/house in Indonesia?

A basic rent in a town such as Purwokerto will start at about 5 million/year and build up from there.
Some of the new estates are a lot more expensive but are far less popular.
The estate agents are trying to force prices up but not having much luck outside the big cities.

Outside Jakarta rents start at around 20 million (BSD being an example) for an older but still clean and tidy house in a guarded estate.
When you hit the popular posh and/or expat areas, think of a number, double it, then add a sprinkle of stupidity to get the price.

I will simply answer the questions based on whats going on at the moment. But everything is going up in price but there are, like everywhere else bargains to be found.

> How much does it cost to rent an apartment/house in Indonesia? 

From around 40 million a year furnished based on location and size. First year or 6 months up front. This is for an apartment.

For a house furnished around the same but per month.

> How much do you pay for your public transport tickets (bus, subway, train, tram)?

Transjakarta 3,500 rupiah each trip regardless how far
The Train 3000 flat fee and the it rises by 500 rupiah or something equally small after 13km I believe but you need to buy the card
Taxi - Blue bird 6500 to start with jumping in 300's
Grab Car is a fixed priced
Uber is an estimate
Same for Go Ride, Grab bike and Uber ride

> Staple food: what do people eat and how much do they pay for basic food like bread, rice or pasta?

Basic meal 15,000 ( fried rice or rice and some chicken)
Noodles and rice are cheap
1/2 a loaf 13,000 but sandwich shops do not exist
Pasta is cheap but pricey in some restaurants
Indonesians eat everything. I watched someone today eat chicken bone and feet soup which she seemed to like.

>What is your monthly grocery budget?

4 million rupiah for 5 people

> How much does it cost to see a physician/doctor/specialist in Indonesia ? 

Depends on which hospital and the skill of the Dr but its not cheap, around 200k

> What is your children's schooling monthly budget?

Senior High school 26 million for the first year, 1.8 million a month before books and uniform and anything else needed
Kindergarden - 5 million plus 400k a month before books and uniform

> How much does it cost to fill up your car’s fuel tank?

150k. Pertamina 8500 for its best fuel. Shell is more for V power.

> How much do you pay for electricity/gas/water etc.?

On a meter 100k every 4 days and water is around 200k a month

> How much do you pay for your Internet/phone subscription?

I dont have internet
Phone credit is dependent on provider and promotion.

> How much do you pay for your lunch pack on weekdays?

15,000 rupiah

> How much do you pay for an espresso coffee?

From 45k

> How much do you pay for a cinema ticket?

From 35k

> How much does a gym membership cost in Indonesia? 

Depends on what you do to get the best price and where it is. Anything from 450k a month up

Most fruit and veg imported is better quality but expensive. Chicken is cheap. Pork isnt. Meat overall isnt cheap if you have a budget. Eating out becomes expensive. Clothing is comparably the same price here as anywhere else as are electrical goods.

Medicine is cheap as it id often generic but with the real stuff it's expensive.  Generally in Jakarta you can't have a hospital bed unless you have paid a deposit upfront. If unconscious, the hospital will provide the bed and do 10000000 tests at max price before you awake and then you have a large bill at the end. Have insurance or be awake, better still don't be sick.

Water which is missing starts at 700rp for a small bottle and a gallon of Aqua (brand) is 16,500rp refill and 50k ish for a new one.
Small Green gas canister is 30 refill. I don't know about the big blue ones.

Staple food: what do people eat and how much do they pay for basic food like bread, rice or pasta?

My local fried rice/noodle seller starts at 12,000 for a single portion.
My local bread delivery guy sells a loaf of white bread for 12,000.
Pasta is easy to get from supermarkets, starting at 15,000 for a packet.

I am retired and live in Kesiman, close to Sanur in Bali.
> How much does it cost to rent an apartment/house in Indonesia? 
I pay 90 millioin/year after having invested around 150 million in the house.
House has western kitchen (that is 85 million of the 150 I invested), nice living room, 2 large bedrooms each with bathroom (with bath, open shower and toilet), large storage room, 7x4 meter swimming pool and nice garden (around 250 m2). Closer to Sanur, and certainly in and around Kuta such house are pretty much more expensive

> How much do you pay for your public transport tickets (bus, subway, train, tram)?
0. I use scooter and occasionally rent a car

> Staple food: what do people eat and how much do they pay for basic food like bread, rice or pasta?
I do most shopping in Hardies and Carrefour. Not cheap. My girlfriend gets eggs and vegatables from local market at reasonable prices.

> How much does it cost to see a physician/doctor/specialist in Indonesia ? 
General practioner, including medication he prescribes and sells to you would be around 200.000 to 300.000 per visit. SPecialists in hospitals start at 200.000 and quickly go up to 300.000 and 500.000 for a visit

> What is your children's schooling monthly budget?
Secundary school (Christian local school) monthly school fee around 600.000. Add another 600.000 for food and drinks. Add to that school uniform and study trips and extracurricular study costs/
University Informatics. Around 5.000.000 per semerster school money. Add food, drinks and extra seminars.

> How much does it cost to fill up your car’s fuel tank?
My scooter tank, usually around 4 liter would be 30.000 to 40.000 (premium or pertamax)

> How much do you pay for electricity/gas/water etc.?
Electricity around 600.000 per month. Gas bottle 15 kg lasts us around two to three months at around 160.000. Water is included  in the rent of my villa

> How much do you pay for your Internet/phone subscription?
310.000/month for phone and internet. Telkom landline.
Smartphone: around 150.000/month prepaid

> How much do you pay for a cinema ticket?
Beachwalk Kuta around 70.000

> How much does a gym membership cost in Indonesia? 
Gym? What is that?

Marc

Have you tried this web-site?
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/

You can even compaire it with you own country. Let say The Netherlands and Indonesia.

Good luck.

Marc,
Your paying way too much unless your house is a palace.
Lots of nice little houses all over the place for 25,000,000 to 35,000,000 near Kerobokan area.
I know that south Bali is higher than the rest of the island but lets get serious.

Please stop buying the inflated price for a house...It is causing the market to become artificially inflated.

I looked around quite bit and have the feeling I rent rather cheaply. Very quite area. Gated community with 7 villas. Relatively large garden of approx 15 x 15 meter. Large swimming pool 7.5 x 4 meter. Modern western kitchen. Two large bedrooms each ensuite bathroom with bath, open shower, toilet, wash tae. Large living room. I cannot believe you can find that for around 30 illion/ year. I pay 90 mil/year and compared to what I hVe seen elsewhere this zees a really good price

MarcDeSmetBE wrote:

I looked around quite bit and have the feeling I rent rather cheaply. Very quite area. Gated community with 7 villas. Relatively large garden of approx 15 x 15 meter. Large swimming pool 7.5 x 4 meter. Modern western kitchen. Two large bedrooms each ensuite bathroom with bath, open shower, toilet, wash tae. Large living room. I cannot believe you can find that for around 30 illion/ year. I pay 90 mil/year and compared to what I hVe seen elsewhere this zees a really good price

Apples and oranges.
Depending on where you live and the type of house, prices vary from 5 million up, bit a villa with all the trimmings is always going to be more than an average house.
If you're taste is luxury and you have the cash, go for it.

20 Millions in BSD. I dont think so Mr.Fred, Miumum rent for standard small house in guarded Cluster will be 35 Millions.

Salem_SBY wrote:

20 Millions in BSD. I dont think so Mr.Fred, Miumum rent for standard small house in guarded Cluster will be 35 Millions.

http://olx.co.id/properti/rumah/disewak … ota/q-bsd/

16 million

You get small for that money but I've seen a few in Melati mas at 20.
Older but still fine and each cluster has security.
Luxury costs more, but not everyone wants luxury.

Ok thanks for informing me that. As i am new in this area. Am not quite familiar with the price range. Thanx

Everyone seems to assume that expats are rich and only want prices in the silly to amazingly stupid range, but that simply isn't true.
Some don't have the cash and some (me included) don't want to waste cash on things I'll never use.
Swimming pools and nice views are fine, but a safe area with security is really all I care about.
I pay a little more now as I moved to a 'posh' area, but not that much more and I needed the big living room for the kids to run up and down in.

Wow. So if my math is correct that 35million rupiah home is less than 3thousand US ??

mgardner wrote:

Wow. So if my math is correct that 35million rupiah home is less than 3thousand US ??

At today's exchange rate, a million Rupiah is about 75 USD so 35 million is roughly 2,625 bucks.

Outside the very expensive areas that'll get you a two or three bedroom in a secured estate complete with guards (Electricity, water and security cost extra, but not much extra).

That is the full purchase price or annual rent?

That's a common rental price per year in many parts of Indonesia.
Foreigners are allowed to buy apartments (with limitations) but can't legally buy land. If you're married to an Indonesian there are legal ways around that.

3 bed apartments are around 60 million a year semi furnished. Housing can be anything you want depending on size and location.

A house is around 600 million plus to buy, apartments from 300 but its been a while since I have inquired.

Thanks for all that.

No there are not houses as nice as yours for 30 jt.
I just think real estate is way out of line in Bali.
Artificially inflated.
Still what you got for 90 jt is a much better deal than other people I know have found.

tanami wrote:

No there are not houses as nice as yours for 30 jt.

That raises the point about bule pricing and how many expats et ripped off because they don't know what a reasonable price is.
That isn't to suggest any poster here has been ripped off because I can't see the house they got for their money, but it is something to watch out for.