Despite the indolent global economic performance, some multinational property consultants are instead optimistic that the market momentum in 2022 would positively impact performance of the property sector market.
For instance, managing director of capital markets and investment services of Colliers Asia, Terence Tang, stated that Asia-Pacific’s property markets have the potential to record positive performance this year.
The optimism can be attributed to the relaxation of activities restriction enforced by national governments, as the COVID-19 pandemic situation has begun to be brought under control and vaccination coverage continues to soar as well as the return of offline working activities and international travel.
In Indonesia, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has continued the Million Homes Programme, the government’s flagship programme aimed at providing affordable housing for residents, with the one-million target expected to be reached every year.
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The government is persevering in their mission to deliver more homes to residents through the program despite the COVID-19 pandemic having compelled the government to redirect its focus to posts considered more urgent to tackle the pandemic and prevent its effect from spilling over to other social sectors.
Surpassing a million homes
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic having caused an economic downturn in Indonesia, the Million Homes Programme had instead recorded a positive performance in 2021 after successfully surpassing the target by procuring a total of 1,105,707 housing units.
Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR), Basuki Hadimuljono, is determined that the program must proceed, and affordable housing units must continue to be offered to residents despite the pandemic.
Moreover, the ministry’s director general of housing, Iwan Suprijanto, attributed the success achieved in producing 1.1 million housing units in 2021 to the collaboration with relevant stakeholders, comprising housing developers, the banking sector, and the general public.
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The director general expounded that the 1,105,707 housing units comprised 826,500 housing units for low-income residents, while the rest of the 279,207 houses were distributed to residents outside the low-income group.
Of the 826 thousand housing units for low-income residents, private property developers contributed some 419,745 housing units, while 341,868 houses were provided by the PUPR Ministry, 43,933 units were provided by regional governments, 15,604 units were provided by private residents, 3,080 units by other government ministries or institutions, and 2,270 units were procured under corporate social responsibility programmes of private enterprises, he noted.
Out of the total 244 thousand units procured for residents outside the low-income group, some 244,010 units were constructed by housing developers, while 35,197 units were provided by private residents, Suprijanto remarked.
Since its inception in 2015 with 699,700 housing units created, the Million Homes Programme continues to record positive performance each year. A total of 805,169 homes were built in 2016, and the figure jumped to 904,758 in 2017. In 2018 and 2019, the total units built under the program reached 1,132,621 and 1,257,852 units respectively.
The only decline in the program occurred in 2020, when only 965,217 units were built during the COVID-19 pandemic before increasing again by logging 1,105,707 housing units constructed in 2021.
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Collaboration for continued performance
To continue the positive performance of the Million Homes Programme and advance the mission to procure more affordable homes for residents, the Ministry’s Directorate General of Housing has committed to a collaboration with state-owned real estate developer company Perum Perumnas.
Apart from contributing to the Million Homes Programme, Perumnas is also committed to providing housing units and flats for government employees and youth groups as well as developing an integrated housing complex as a pilot project with the ministry.
To support Perumnas’ development projects, the Directorate General of Housing has committed to assisting the state-owned company in providing basic utilities and facilities that includes access roads, drainage, and water piping installations.
President Director of Perumnas Budi Saddewa Soediro revealed that the company is currently engaging in housing units and flat development projects in several regions that may complement the ministry’s missions in procuring housing units.
Soediro also reiterated the company’s willingness to cooperate and coordinate with the PUPR Ministry authorised to conceive national infrastructure and housing development and policies.
The ministry will also cooperate with other stakeholders to advance the Million Homes Programme and the national housing sector, in general, as performance of some 174 industry sectors in Indonesia, right from building construction material to window curtain industries, hinged on the fluctuations and dynamics of the housing sector.
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National housing developers will be encouraged by the ministry to utilise domestic-made products to advance domestic industries and drive national economic activities currently recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic downturn.
The director general also confirmed that standardisation of domestic-produced building materials will be conceived by the authority to ensure a uniform standard of building materials produced by domestic producers and enhance public trust in national products.
As the Million Homes Programme has continued recording mostly positive performance since its inception, even a slight decline in housing development due to the COVID-19 pandemic will not hinder the overall program for long as had been proven in 2021.
By collaborating with relevant stakeholders, including the regional government and the private sectors, to advance the program, it is not an exaggeration to believe that this programme will again surpass the target of one million homes this year.
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Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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