With our large land size, small population and advanced economy, most Australians can reasonably expect to one day own their own homes, but for many of our closest neighbours, getting into the housing market is something they can only do with assistance.

In Indonesia, developer Vista Land is successfully rolling out low-cost housing on a large scale, enabling many people to buy their first homes. Vista Land, which started in 2004, specialize in this type of low-cost housing and have so far built around 20,000 homes.

Oka Kauripan, Vista Land’s Director Treasury, Investment and Funding, said there is a chronic shortage of housing in Indonesia. "We see that as a developer, we must specialize in a certain market, we can’t do everything and Indonesia is definitely lacking in low-cost housing," said Kauripan. "That’s the initial reason why we got into this segment of the market."

Indonesia Property Watch research shows the undersupply of houses for Indonesia is a staggering 21.7 million homes, said Kauripan.

About an hour and a half from Jakarta in Klapanunggal, Bogor, Vista Land is currently developing an affordable housing project called Puri Harmoni 7. It consists of around 800 houses that cost $US10,000 each. The development is almost all sold-out, with only 20 units left. They are scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.

For Jakarta, $10,000 is the entry-point to the housing market, and these properties are designed for first-home buyers and people upgrading from renting to buying their own home. The Indonesian government aims to provide 1 million new homes a year, so subsidizes people who purchase this type of low-cost housing with home loans through a government-owned bank with interest rates of 5 percent per annum, compared to the market rate of 12 or 13 percent. To be eligible, income must be below $400 a month, and the program is tightly controlled so it is only available to owner occupiers, not investors.

Kauripan said the aim is to keep the housing affordable so they have a simple design with limited options. Most people build their own extension, which they can add on down the road when they have more budget. Most of the properties are two bedrooms with a kitchen, and everything else is added by the owner. "They have no garage, so usually people add a garage or carport later when they have their own motorcycles," he said.

Vista Land provide concrete main roads, which set the project apart from other developments in Indonesia.

This article brought to you by RE Talk Asia.