How Many Crazy Rich People Are There in Indonesia?

In April 2023, Indonesian individuals purchased three luxury homes in Singapore. The total cost amounted to SGD 206.7 million, approximately Rp2.3 trillion (assuming an exchange rate of Rp11,121 per SGD).

This news was reported by Mingtiandi, a real estate research firm headquartered in China.

"The company's representatives identified the buyer (of the three luxury homes in Singapore) as a wealthy Indonesian family," Mingtiandi stated in its press release on Wednesday, April 19, 2023.

"The family acquired adjacent plots, each approximately 1,406 square meters, with an estimated price of SGD 69 million (Rp767.4 billion) per house," it added.

Mingtiandi also mentioned that this purchase price set a new record high in the Singapore property market.

Shortly after the news surfaced, Yustinus Prastowo, Special Staff to the Minister of Finance, stated that the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) should be able to examine the transaction.

"Usually, this kind of thing falls under the AEoI (automatic exchange of information) scheme, or at least the DJP can conduct an EoI (exchange of information) to ensure we obtain more detailed information," Prastowo said in a tweet on his Twitter account @prastow on Monday, April 24, 2023.

"Buying property is the right of citizens. Hopefully, their tax obligations will also be fulfilled properly," Prastowo added.

According to the Global Wealth Databook from Credit Suisse, the population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals or "crazy rich" in Indonesia is very small.

In 2021, only about 191,000 people (0.1%) of the Indonesian adult population had assets exceeding USD 1 million, or more than Rp15 billion (assuming an exchange rate of Rp15,000 per USD).

Approximately 3.7 million people (2%) had assets ranging from USD 100,000 to USD 1 million (Rp1.5 billion to Rp15 billion).

Around 57 million people (31%) had assets between USD 10,000 and USD 100,000 (Rp150 million to Rp1.5 billion).

The majority group, approximately 122.8 million people (66.8%) of the Indonesian adult population, had assets below USD 10,000 (less than Rp150 million).