Section
Bali vs Dubai, Thailand and Portugal: 2026 Comparison
What foreigners can own, pay and keep in Bali against Dubai, Thailand, Portugal, Japan and the rest.
Foreigners cannot own land in Bali, and the money keeps arriving anyway. These pages put Indonesia side by side with Dubai, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, Portugal and Spain on the only four questions that matter: what you can own, what it costs to get in, what you are taxed on, and what you are left holding at the end.
Every answer in this section
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Which countries still sell residency for property?
Spain closed its golden visa. Portugal removed the property route. The list of countries still trading residency for capital is shorter every year.
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Where in Asia can foreigners actually own property?
Almost none let a foreigner own land outright. What separates the markets is what you get instead and how long you keep it, country by country.
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Which countries tax you for being rich?
Norway, Spain and Switzerland tax what you own. Indonesia taxes what you earn. Over a long hold that difference compounds into real money.
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How does the Dutch Box 3 tax work?
The Dutch system taxes an assumed return on your assets rather than what they actually earned, which is why it has been fought through the courts.
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Dubai or Bali for property?
Dubai gives you freehold and no income tax. Bali gives you 30 years and no freehold at all. The money keeps arriving in both.
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Thailand or Bali for property?
Thailand gives you a condominium freehold and prosecutes the company workaround. Indonesia gives you no land at all and has criminalised the equivalent.
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Why are so many Australians buying in Bali?
Australians are the largest single group of foreign buyers here, and they keep making the same three mistakes.
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Can Americans buy property in Bali?
Yes, on the same terms as every foreigner: leasehold, Hak Pakai with residency, or HGB through a company, never freehold. What is different for Americans is the US tax and reporting side, and three habits from home that do not work here.
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Is Bali running out of land?
Bali is building faster than almost anywhere in Asia and running out of the land worth building on at the same time. Both are true.
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Can British citizens buy property in Bali?
Yes, on the same terms as every foreigner: leasehold, Hak Pakai with residency, or HGB through a company, never freehold. What differs for UK buyers is the home tax side, and the assumption that a Bali leasehold works like an English one.
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Can foreigners own property in Japan?
Japan lets any foreigner own land outright with no restriction. Bali lets you own none of it. The money still goes to Bali, and the reason is instructive.
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Can foreigners buy property in Vietnam?
Vietnam grants foreigners 50 years on an apartment. Indonesia grants 30 on a lease. Only one of them has a defined renewal path.
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Is Malaysia MM2H better than Bali?
Malaysia lets foreigners own freehold above state minimums and ties a long-stay visa to it. Bali offers neither. The trade-off is demand.
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Can foreigners buy property in the Philippines?
Foreigners can hold up to 40 percent of a condominium building and none of the land. Indonesia allows none of either, and still draws more capital.
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Is Asia really cheaper on tax than Europe?
Europe adds a levy most years. Asia opens a door. The part people get wrong is that the tax follows the person, not the property.
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What does $130,000 buy in Bali?
It is the number attached to Indonesia's Second Home route, and it buys very different things depending on where you point it.
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Is it cheaper to build in Bali than Australia?
Over 1,500 Australian builders collapsed in a year and buyers lost deposits. Building here costs a fraction, and the risks are entirely different ones.
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Can foreigners buy property in Jakarta?
The same national rules apply, but the market is apartments, tenants are corporate, and nobody is buying it for the lifestyle.
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Is Sumba or Labuan Bajo the next Bali?
Spectacular, genuinely early, and separated from Bali by a decade of infrastructure. The phrase next Bali does more harm than good here.
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Singapore, Hong Kong or Bali?
Both let foreigners own outright and both charge heavily for the privilege. Bali offers neither ownership nor the entry cost.
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Is money moving from Dubai to Bali?
Dubai prices rose hard and yields compressed. Some of that capital went looking, and Bali caught part of it. Most of it is buying the wrong thing.
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What does your money actually buy in Bali?
The same figure buys a different life here, and the gap is widest on exactly the things most people cannot buy at home any more.
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Bali or Lombok for investment?
Lombok is a fraction of the price and a fraction of the demand. The question is whether you are buying income or buying time.
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Canggu, Seminyak or Ubud?
Three markets with different guests, different booking channels and different seasonality. The right one depends on what you are optimising for.
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The Bukit or Canggu?
Canggu has the steadiest occupancy in Bali. The Bukit has the biggest view premium and the water problem. They suit different buyers.
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Portugal or Bali for property?
Portugal gives registered EU freehold and closed its golden visa property route. Bali gives higher yield and no ownership at all.
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Sri Lanka or Bali for property?
Sri Lanka is cheaper, earlier and far less liquid, with a foreign ownership restriction that works differently from Indonesia's.
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Costa Rica or Bali for property?
Costa Rica lets foreigners own freehold outright, which Indonesia does not. Bali earns more and costs less to enter.
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Mexico or Bali for property?
Mexico lets foreigners hold coastal property through a bank trust with beneficial ownership. Indonesia has no equivalent.
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Nusa Penida or Lembongan?
Penida is bigger, rawer and cheaper with a day-trip economy. Lembongan is smaller, more developed and has actual overnight demand.
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Spain or Bali for property?
Spain gives registered EU freehold and ended its golden visa. Bali gives higher yield and no ownership. The wealth tax is the wildcard.
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The checklist, the 20 questions, the 12 lease clauses and the 15 red flags I go through before anyone signs. Plus the worksheet that shows what a villa really returns.
- The 9-link chain every Bali deal has to survive
- Documents to request, and what each one proves
- 20 questions to ask before you pay a deposit
- 12 lease clauses to insist on
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