Most Bali villa returns are quoted as one number, gross, with no term and no tax. That number is not wrong so much as incomplete — and on a leasehold it is actively misleading, because the asset expires. This guide sets out how to read a yield on this market, what erodes it, and the one calculation that makes a 17-year lease and a 30-year lease comparable.
Start with what “yield” leaves out
A quoted gross yield of, say, 12% is annual income divided by purchase price. Four things sit between it and your pocket:
| Tax on income | 10% if you are an Indonesian tax resident, 20% withheld under PPh 26 if you are not |
|---|---|
| Management | Typically 15–25% of gross for a full-service operator; less if you self-manage and are on the island |
| Operating costs | Utilities, pool and garden, laundry, consumables, repairs — a meaningful share of gross on a small villa |
| Term decay | On a leasehold, the asset is worth less every year. This is not a cost line, it is the whole shape of the investment |
A 12% gross on a leasehold, run through 20% tax and 20% management, lands nearer 7% net before operating costs. That is still a respectable number for this market. It is simply a different number from the one on the poster.
Every income figure in this catalogue is published gross, with occupancy stated separately, and labelled as gross. Not because gross flatters — because your tax residency and your management arrangement are yours. An agency that quotes you a single net yield without asking where you are tax resident is guessing.
The calculation that actually compares listings
On freehold or Hak Pakai, payback is straightforward: price divided by net annual income. On leasehold, the question is different, and it is the one most buyers never ask:
Does the income recover the price inside the term — and what is left over?
Two real shapes:
- A 25-year lease at $150,000, $18,000 gross a year. 12% gross. At 20% tax and 20% management, net is about $11,500. Payback about 13 years, leaving roughly 12 years of income beyond it. The deal works.
- A 17-year lease at $385,000, $42,000 gross a year. 10.9% gross — a lower headline. Net about $26,900. Payback about 14 years, leaving three. The margin for error is nearly gone: one soft season, one $30,000 roof, and the term ends before the money comes back.
Same market, similar gross yields, two different risks. This is why every leasehold listing here shows the years remaining next to the price rather than in the small print, and why the deal calculator computes cost per year of ownership — price divided by term. It is the only figure that lets you put a 17-year and a 30-year property side by side honestly.
What drives occupancy, in order
Occupancy is the variable with the most leverage on the outcome and the least honesty in listings. What moves it:
- Zoning. Short-stay guests are lawful in a tourism zone and not in a residential or green one. If the plot is wrongly zoned, the projected income is not a projection, it is an illegal activity with fines attached. This is a separate field on every listing for that reason.
- Bedrooms and bathrooms. A three-bedroom villa with three bathrooms commands materially more than one with a single shared bathroom. Bathroom count is a revenue field, not a comfort field.
- Minutes to the beach, not kilometres. On Bali, traffic is the distance. Eight minutes by scooter is a selling point; four kilometres tells a guest nothing.
- The pool. On a small villa it is close to a precondition rather than an upgrade.
- Area maturity. Canggu and Seminyak fill more reliably and cost more to buy into. The Bukit — Uluwatu, Ungasan, Pecatu, Bingin — has a shorter shoulder season and a lower entry price. Neither is better; they are different risk profiles.
Costs people forget to model
- Furniture replacement. Salt air and humidity are hard on a house. Budget a refresh cycle, not a one-off fit-out.
- Pool plant and air conditioning. The two things that break, and both stop bookings when they do.
- Vacancy between guests and the low season. Occupancy of 60–70% is a good year, not a bad one.
- Platform commission if you list on booking sites, on top of management.
- PBB annually, at 0.1–0.5% of the assessed NJOP, plus estate fees.
The honest framing
Bali gross yields are genuinely higher than most European or North American residential markets. They are higher because the risks are different, not absent: the tenure expires, the zoning can be wrong, the permits can be missing, enforcement is real, and the income depends on a tourism cycle you do not control. 2026 has made one of those risks smaller for buyers of completed property — the construction moratorium in six regencies restricts new supply on agricultural land, which is a tailwind for existing stock with valid permits.
Nothing here is investment advice, and we are not licensed to give it. What we can do is publish the fields the arithmetic needs — term, zoning, permits, gross income, occupancy — and compute the comparison in the open, on each listing, with the assumptions editable.
Common questions
Are the income figures on your listings net or gross?
Gross, before tax and before management, with occupancy shown separately, and labelled as such on every listing. Your tax rate depends on your residency and your management cost depends on your arrangement, so a single net number would be fiction.
What tax will I pay on guest income?
Ten per cent final tax if you are an Indonesian tax resident; twenty per cent withheld under PPh 26 if you are not. It follows tax residency, not nationality. Most buyers modelling returns from abroad should use 20%.
Is a high yield on a short lease a good deal?
Sometimes, but the test is not the yield — it is whether net income recovers the price inside the term with years to spare. A 10.9% yield with 17 years left can be worse than a 12% yield with 25 left, because payback eats almost the whole term. The calculator on each listing shows this.
What occupancy should I assume?
Sixty to seventy per cent is a solid year for a well-located villa with a pool. Anyone projecting eighty-five per cent year-round is selling you the peak season twelve times over.
Can I take guest income legally on any villa?
No — only where the plot’s zoning permits it. Tourism zone yes, residential or green no, and enforcement exists. Zoning is a field on every listing here, not a footnote, because the entire income case depends on it.
Listings with income and occupancy shown
- Villas for Sale in Canggu 1 listing