Can a foreigner own land in Bali?

Not as full freehold. Hak milik is for Indonesian citizens only. A foreigner can hold hak pakai, can hold land through a company on an HGB basis, and most commonly takes hak sewa, leasehold, where you lease the land and own the building on it for the term.

The structure is well established and it is what the majority of foreign-owned villas here sit on. Whether a particular lease is safe depends entirely on how it is written: the extension rights, what happens on a sale, and whether the landowner will support the licences you need. Those are the clauses to have a notaris look at properly.

How much does land cost?

Between roughly 15 million per are per year in Cemagi and above 40 million in Canggu and Pererenan, on a leasehold basis, with everything in between depending on exactly where the plot sits. Distance from the beach moves it more than anything else. The area pages carry the current range for each place we build in.

Why do you send someone else to the landowner first?

Because prices in Bali are quoted to the person standing in front of the landowner, and that price moves once the buyer is known to be a foreign investor. One of our negotiators establishes the real price first, and we join the conversation once the number is set. It is not a trick, it is just how the market works, and pretending otherwise costs our clients money.

Do I need a notaris, and do you provide one?

You need one, and we work alongside them rather than replacing them. We will tell you what we see across a lot of transactions and flag what to ask about. The signing off is theirs, and it should be.

Land and legal

What you can own, and how land actually gets bought.

The ownership part is written up everywhere. The buying part is not, and it is where the money is won or lost.

Land assessment for a villa project in Bali.

A foreigner cannot hold hak milik, full Indonesian freehold. That is reserved for Indonesian citizens. Below it sit HGB and hak pakai, and what almost everyone actually uses is hak sewa, leasehold: you lease the land and own the building on it for the term of the lease. Leases can be extended, and with the right structure that can run effectively indefinitely.

The part that decides whether a project works is not which of those you pick. It is what you pay for the land and whether the plot can carry the villa you have in mind. Both are settled before any money moves, and both are things we do rather than advise on.

What a foreigner can and cannot hold

Simplified deliberately. Your notaris gives the definitive position for your situation, and we work alongside them rather than instead of them.

	What it is	Available to a foreigner
Hak milik	Full freehold, the strongest title there is	No. Indonesian citizens only, with no workaround that survives scrutiny
HGB	A quasi-freehold that tends to hold its value much like freehold, with conditions attached	Through a company structure, and it converts back to freehold if sold to an Indonesian
Hak pakai	A right to use, sitting between leasehold and HGB	Yes, in defined circumstances
Hak sewa	Leasehold. You lease the land, you own the building on it for the term	Yes, and this is what almost everyone building here actually uses

Why leasehold is not the compromise it sounds like

Foreign buyers arrive assuming leasehold is the consolation prize, because in their own country a lease is a diminishing asset on someone else's building. Here you own the building outright for the term, and the term is extendable.

It is also worth knowing that a foreign-owned company can hold land on a basis close to freehold, renewed on 30-year cycles, and that the renewal cost is small relative to the asset. It is closer to freehold with a periodic tax than to a lease running down.

What matters far more than the label is how the agreement is written. Extension rights, what happens on sale, and whether the landowner will support the licences you need to rent the villa out are all things that either are in the document or are not. That is a notaris question, and it is one to settle before signing rather than after.

How we actually buy a plot

This is the part that does not appear on other builders' websites, and it is the part that changes the number you pay.

Before we appear

You tell us the area you are interested in, and we go and look at it
We keep people on retainer whose job is to find and assess land for clients
One of our negotiators approaches the landowner first
The reason is blunt: the moment a foreigner is seen, the price goes up

What we assess

Gang width and whether a truck can physically reach the plot
The zoning position, and what the plot will actually carry
What the land should cost in that area, against what is being asked
The banjar, and the community relationship the build will need

Then the negotiation

A price is struck before we enter the conversation
We come in later, once the number is established
The permit position and licence route are settled in the agreement, not after
If the plot will not work, we tell you and you do not buy it

Land prices, and why a single figure is useless

Land in Bali is quoted per are per year on a leasehold basis. Across the areas we build in most, that currently runs from around 15 million in Cemagi to above 40 million in Canggu and Pererenan.

Those are starting points and nothing more. Position moves the number more than the area does: a plot three hundred metres closer to the beach can cost double one three hundred metres further back. Five minutes here changes a price the way ten kilometres would somewhere else.

That is why we go and look rather than quote from a table. The area-by-area figures we do have are published on the individual area pages, alongside what building there is actually like.

What we will not do

Worth stating, because some of it is offered elsewhere.

Nominee arrangements, where land is held in an Indonesian person's name on your behalf. It is not a grey area, and the person carrying the risk is you.
Telling you a structure is fine when that is a question for a notaris. We will tell you what we see constantly and then send you to someone qualified to sign off on it.
Proceeding on a plot where the zoning does not support the villa you want. That conversation happens before the purchase, not after.

Questions buyers actually ask

Can a foreigner own land in Bali?: Not as full freehold. Hak milik is for Indonesian citizens only. A foreigner can hold hak pakai, can hold land through a company on an HGB basis, and most commonly takes hak sewa, leasehold, where you lease the land and own the building on it for the term.
Is leasehold safe?: The structure is well established and it is what the majority of foreign-owned villas here sit on. Whether a particular lease is safe depends entirely on how it is written: the extension rights, what happens on a sale, and whether the landowner will support the licences you need. Those are the clauses to have a notaris look at properly.
How much does land cost?: Between roughly 15 million per are per year in Cemagi and above 40 million in Canggu and Pererenan, on a leasehold basis, with everything in between depending on exactly where the plot sits. Distance from the beach moves it more than anything else. The area pages carry the current range for each place we build in.
Why do you send someone else to the landowner first?: Because prices in Bali are quoted to the person standing in front of the landowner, and that price moves once the buyer is known to be a foreign investor. One of our negotiators establishes the real price first, and we join the conversation once the number is set. It is not a trick, it is just how the market works, and pretending otherwise costs our clients money.
Do I need a notaris, and do you provide one?: You need one, and we work alongside them rather than replacing them. We will tell you what we see across a lot of transactions and flag what to ask about. The signing off is theirs, and it should be.

Terms on this page, explained

Where this comes up