JAKARTA: Scrolling on social media, Indonesian moviegoer Jessica Sihotang stumbled across a film depicting a fellow woman in her 30s struggling to make the dream of buying a Jakarta home a reality.
\nNearly two million like-minded Indonesians tuned in to watch the protagonist\u2019s house-hunting journey when \u201cHome Sweet Loan\u201d was released last year, the movie\u2019s producer said.
\nResidents of the megalopolis of 11 million are finding it impossible to climb the property ladder, as space shrinks and prices rise, forcing them to seek faraway homes that come with arduous commutes.
\nThe movie sparked widespread chatter among Jakartans, as its main character\u2019s grievances resonated with their own long-held housing woes.
\n\u201cI can relate so much. I\u2019ve been thinking about it for the past 10 years,\u201d said Sihotang.
\n\u201cI want to have my own house, but my savings have never been enough even just for the down payment,\u201d added the 35-year-old university admissions worker.
\nJakarta is where Indonesia\u2019s growing wealth gap is most evident \u2014 with unofficial slum housing sitting below shiny new apartment complexes and skyscrapers.
\nLess than two-thirds of Jakartans own a home, according to Indonesia\u2019s Central Statistics Bureau, the lowest figure compared to other provinces.
\nSihotang said she cannot afford a home within 60 kilometers (37 miles) of her job.
\n\u201cI have to find side hustles for additional income, or maybe try my luck for a few years abroad\u201d before buying a property, she said.
\nThe price of a Jakarta house is on average 20 times higher than an employee\u2019s annual salary, a University of Indonesia survey in June found.
\nJakartans like Rizqi Arifuddin have resorted to buying a house in neighboring provinces.
\nThe office worker in one of Jakarta\u2019s main business districts commutes by train for an hour from his home in West Java province.
\nHe then jumps on a motorcycle taxi for another half an hour to reach the office.
\n\u201cI can never afford a house in the city. Even researching the prices makes me upset,\u201d he said.
\nWith limited space available in the cramped capital known for its brutal traffic jams, prices have skyrocketed.
\nHousing complexes are now being built further from the city to meet demand.
\n\u201cThis is the reality, people are now competing for places which at least have access to mass transportation,\u201d said Yayat Supriyatna, an urban planner from Trisakti University in Jakarta.
\n\u201cJakarta is not a place for the poor,\u201d he told AFP.
\nSome Indonesians like Muhammad Faris Dzaki Rahadian and his wife have chosen to rent, rather than buy, a property close to work.
\n\u201cEven with our joint income, it is still not affordable,\u201d said journalist Rahadian, 27.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think buying is a rational option.\u201d
\nTo address the housing crisis, the government will require employees from 2027 to contribute three percent of their salaries to a savings fund which they can use for housing.
\nBut it has angered Indonesians who think it won\u2019t be enough \u2014 or that it could be taken from them by a government many distrust.
\n\u201cWho\u2019s going to benefit? It seems to me that people are getting constantly pressured,\u201d Supriyatna said.
\nDespite the grim housing market, some are still holding on to their dreams.
\n\u201cHaving a house, no matter how small is a symbol of peace of mind for me,\u201d Sihotang said.
\n\u201cIt will give me peace when I\u2019m old.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JAKARTA: Scrolling on social media, Indonesian moviegoer Jessica Sihotang stumbled across a film depicting a fellow woman in her 30s struggling to make the dream of buying a Jakarta home a reality. Nearly two million like-minded Indonesians tuned in to watch the protagonist\u2019s house-hunting journey when \u201cHome Sweet Loan\u201d was released last year, the movie\u2019s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":75621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75622,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75591\/revisions\/75622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}