"Sales are set to pick up and potential to hit a new record," international property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle`s chief researcher Anton Sitorus said here on Friday.
Sitorus said in a written statement here on Friday, interest shown by buyers remained strong in the first quarter of 2013.
Sales of apartment houses in the first three months of this year reached 4,300 units, Anton pointed out, saying, "it was more than one third of sales in the whole of 2012."
Developers have been encouraged by the market trend to launch new projects, he said.
"A total of 2,800 units have been brought to the market in the first quarter mostly for middle class segment," he added.
Meanwhile, the prices of apartment houses have continued to pick up with the growing demand, he said.
The highest increase was recorded for the prices of middle class apartments - up 6 percent from the previous quarter.
Currently , more than 33,000 units of apartment are being built and 68 percent of them have been absorbed by the market, Anton said.
Luke Rowe, head of residential house division of Jones Lang LaSalle Indonesia, attributed the increase in sales to declining bank interest rate and growing demand in urban areas.
"The launch of new projects will continue to be brisk in the next several quarters, but would likely slowdown only ahead of the elections next year," Luke said.
(H-ASG/F001)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
