Investment in Bali’s property market is on the rise
Investing in Bali is not for the faint of heart but the developer behind a luxury villa complex believes the island destination is rapidly coming of age.
Investing in Bali real estate is not for the faint of heart, but developer Johannes Weissenbaeck argues that the market has vastly improved over the past 10 years.
Weissenbaeck is fresh from the one-day sellout of 40 freestanding luxury villas to a range of buyers from Australia, Singapore and Indonesia, and has an even more ambitious project to launch in Bali’s emerging destination of Nyanyi.
Bali was once known as the wild west of residential property investing, but Weissenbaeck argues that the so-called island of the gods is coming of age.
He says it is now flooded with global citizens who are keen to invest in residential projects because of the solid returns, work opportunities and influx of professional managers entering the market.
“If you have an appetite for opportunity and possibility, Bali is a good place,” says Weissenbaeck, founder and CEO of the Bali-based OXO Living.
“Bali is on the cusp of becoming a professional investment market.”
Since arriving in Bali 11 years ago after building a successful marketing business in Sydney, Weissenbaeck has developed more than 20 projects. They include villas, townhouses, and a purpose-built US-style pleasure boat that plies the waters off the pink sand beaches around Komodo Island, near where he has purchased land for a 300-key resort he will launch next year.
The May issue of Mansion magazine is out in The Australian today
But on Bali, Weissenbaeck is banking on the popularity of the Nyanyi village where the 40ha Nuanu City is taking shape, 6km from Tanah Lot.
It is there he plans to build a luxury 24-villa complex called The Pavilions that taps into the wellness theme sweeping the world of property development, growing at an astounding 18 per cent.
According to Horwath HTL, lifestyle real estate developments typically achieve average sales price premiums of 10-25 per cent over comparable traditional real estate developments. “Yet these premiums can range widely between 10 per cent and 55 per cent,’’ the firm states.
Higher premiums typically result when villas or townhouses are developed around a wellness resort.
As such, Weissenbaeck’s OXO Living has included a central steam room, a multifunction wellness studio, ice baths and an indoor hydrotherapy pool as extras for villa owners at The Pavilions residential development.
Villas start at just under $US500,000 ($770,000), rising to about $US1m, and residents will also have access to a range of on-site wellness facilities, including stretch classes and saunas.
All villas come with their own private swimming pool and car parks, and the complex will include electric-vehicle charging stations. The grand sales launch is on June 8.
Offering three, four or five bedrooms, the The Pavilions villas each have unique layouts, with the entire complex designed by architect Chris Precht to resemble a Balinese village. Residents can also tap into additional services at The Pavilions and, depending on the size of their villa, convert one room into an office, a sauna, a steam room, a television room or their own personal gym.
“We have tried to design something that feels as if it has been there forever,” says Weissenbaeck, adding that the project was inspired by traditional Balinese family compounds.
“Nobody has done anything like this before in Bali. This is really taking the design back to the earth. The spaces are naturally ventilated, we have double-layered rattan roofs and natural earthy floors.”
Weissenbaeck is not the only developer to have discovered Bali. The Russian-backed Nuanu Creative City is sprawled across a 44ha site with a newly opened luxury boutique hotel, the 11-room Oshom boutique hotel, and schools for both child and adult learning, as well as cultural, education and hospitality spaces.
It also includes the Lumeira Wellness Spa, owned by Jasper Sceats, and entertainment facilities such as the cliffside Luna Beach Club right above the highly photogenic Nyanyi Beach. No more than 30 per cent of the 44ha site will be developed.
Weissenbaeck predicts that it will take two years to finish construction of The Pavilions, with completion slated for September 2027.
He says many of his buyers are repeat purchasers from Australia, Asia and Europe. “We have people who have bought three villas, we have Australians as well as Swiss and Chinese buyers,” he says.
Apart from his plans to develop a 300-key hotel at Nusa Lembongan, he also has optioned sites at Ubud and Sanur on Bali for more luxury residential developments.
The writer was a guest of OXO Living
This story is from the May issue of Mansion magazine, out today.
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