Housing Market in Depok: Renting vs. Buying Trends

so i woke up this morning lacing my shoes at the edge of depok’s sprawling grid of old‑fashioned apartments and new‑build towers, and thought about whether the place i’d call home should be a rental or a purchase. the city feels like a low‑key extension of jakarta - you can still get the city‑rush vibes, but the commute is a little less suffocating, and the police presence actually feels more... there.

the first thing i check when i’m trying to settle down (or at least decide not to keep moving every month) is the safety meter. depok’s crime stats for 2023 were around 12 000 reported incidents city‑wide, a tiny dip compared to jakarta’s 20 k+ figure. the police put out a chart that showed a 0.4% drop in petty theft and a 1.2% rise in bicycle theft - a little funny because i love the bike lanes that snake through the university campus. if i’m going to store my vintage sneakers next to a fresh set of running shoes, i’d like that theft risk to be low enough that i don’t have to lock everything up in a literal vault.

the rent scene is pretty straight‑forward. a one‑bedroom condo in jatiwaringin, about 25 km north of downtown, costs roughly 8‑10 million idr per month (~$450‑$600). if you move a bit further out to the “cikarang” side, you can get the same footprint for about 6 million idr (~$350). i’ve seen friends on tripadvisor.com posting about “bumi mekar” condos that have rooftop pools and cheap parking, and they swear it’s a steal, but the hidden cost is the community fee - about 5% of the rent per year, plus a mandatory “building maintenance” surcharge every quarter. i’m not a fan of hidden fees when my wallet is already thin after buying those vintage tees from a flea market.

on the buying front, the average price for a 120 sqm house in depok ranges from 1 billion to 1.2 billion idr (~$70‑$85 k). i’ve browsed on yelp.com a few listings for “karya desa” and “sukabumi townhouses” that look solid, with decent yard space and a small garden that would let me keep a few potted basil plants for my post‑run smoothies. the biggest selling point for buying, according to a thread i accidentally read on r/depok (https://www.reddit.com/r/depok/), is the tax incentive: first‑year property tax is reduced by 30% if you’re a foreigner on a work visa. but the catch is the down payment. you need at least 30% upfront - roughly 300 million idr (~$18 k) - and the loan interest rates here are hovering around 5.5% per annum, which is decent compared to jakarta’s 6.8% but still feels like a grind when you’re trying to save for a marathon training kit.

i’ve got a friend in the fitness industry who told me: "if you’re planning to move around every 2‑3 years, stick to rentals. the transaction costs and commission are a killer, especially if you have to chase a new job." that’s his "drunk advice" after a late‑night rehearsal for a local indie‑film project. he also warned, "the new bandung‑depok highway cuts the drive from 45 minutes to 20 minutes, so suddenly the short drive part is a whole lot shorter, but the traffic spikes at rush hour - watch out for the midnight trucks that rattle your windows."

the weather today is a thick slab of sour orange, like a cheap plastic umbrella left out in the rain for a week. the humidity is making my legs feel like they’re stuck in a tarp, but the clouds are scattering enough that i can still hear the city’s distant traffic hum through my headphones. according to the local weather app, it’s a 78 % chance of rain later, so i guess i’ll grab a coffee snob’s specialty at a tiny cafe near the railway station and watch the rain out the window - that’s one of my favorite "drunk advice" moments.

i ran past a vintage‑clothes‑picker pop‑up stall on my way to the mrt station, and they shouted: "if you buy a house, you can finally hang that 80s windbreaker collection without worrying about humidity melting the fabric." i laughed, because i can’t imagine living in a house that costs 1 billion idr just for a closet full of polyester fakes. but then i saw a new apartment complex with a "tiny closet" built‑in that even a professional chef would envy for its built‑in spice rack. the building even has a rooftop gym, which i’m definitely not a stranger to after my marathon training.

i heard a dude at the coffee shop say the new eco‑living tower is being offered at 8 % discount for first‑time buyers, but the appraisal just went up, so they’re waiting on the final sale. if you jump now, you might lock yourself into a price that’s already climbing.

a neighbor warned me that the short flight to bandung only takes 30 minutes, but the airport is cheap so you could land in a suburb outside depok and rent a place for half the price you’d pay downtown.

some dude at the mrt said the new rental units on the east side will see a 6 % hike in price next month, but the landlord’s offering a 3‑month free rent if you sign a 1‑year lease.

i also have a personal habit: i scour tripadvisor reviews before every big purchase. the top "buying vs renting" review (https://tripadvisor.com/depok‑housing‑market) gave a solid breakdown: average rent increase YoY was 5.6 % in 2024, while house price growth was 8.3 %. that suggests that if you can lock in a purchase now, you’re likely to see equity rise faster, but you have to be okay with the upfront capital.

so, as a runner who needs a stable base for weekly 15‑km runs, a decent internet connection for my freelance photography gigs, and a safe place to stash my vintage sneaker collection, what does it boil down to? a quick check: if you have a budget of 12 million idr per month for rent, you can comfortably live in an 80 sqm condo with a gym on the floor. if you want to own, you’ll need at least 3 billion idr saved for a down payment, plus a loan that’ll eat about 600 k idr per month for the next 15 years (assuming 5.5 % interest). that’s a solid 15 years of mortgage payments, which means you’re basically financing your own training schedule.

i’ve always loved the old‑fashioned “mahjong” houses in depok’s northern suburbs; they have high ceilings and breezy courtyards that feel like a respite from the heat. but the “construction boom” that’s happening now means half of those houses are being torn down for brand‑new apartments. i’m torn - do i chase the authenticity of a heritage home, or the modern convenience of a smart‑home? the local reddit board r/depok (https://www.reddit.com/r/depok/) keeps spitting out threads that argue both sides: “heritage = soul, but modern = fast internet”.

the final piece: the commuting factor. the “depok‑lrt” line that started in 2022 now runs all the way to jakarta’s gambir station, cutting the trip to 30 minutes, which is insane for a city that historically had you in a bus for an hour. however, the lrt stations are spaced far enough that some people still have to walk a bit, which adds a few extra minutes to my morning run. that’s why i favor a location near the lrt, because i can time my runs to catch the train on the way out.

i’m also a coffee snob, so i tested a few cafés near the prospective neighborhoods. the one in “bumi mekar” (https://yelp.com/business/123456789) has a single‑origin indonesian coffee that’s low‑acid, perfect for post‑run recovery. the one in “ciledug” (https://yelp.com/business/987654321) is more industrial, but they have a great espresso machine that could double as a noise‑machine for my yoga flow.

the conclusion? for now, i’m staying on the rental side, because my life is still a series of short‑term gigs, indie‑film projects, and marathon training runs that demand flexibility. buying feels like a gamble - it would mean locking up my finances for at least a decade, which is a lot when you’re chasing that finish line every weekend. but if i ever land a steady job with a salary bump that covers 30 % down payment, i might reconsider. for anyone else out there trying to pick a side, i say: get the numbers, run them through your brain like a track lap, and don’t let the “short drive” hype blind you - the actual commute can change faster than a monsoon.

additionally, here’s the map for visual reference:

tripadvisor link • yelp link • reddit link • coffee snob blog

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