The Spatial Pattern of Land Values in Jakarta

Rapid urban development and globalisation have brought dynamic changes to large cities in the developing countries. Yet understanding of the changes has been handicapped by the lack of data and systematic attempts. By using the latest release of land-value data in Jakarta, this paper provides insights into the spatial structure of land values in a typical Third World metropolis. Land values vary drastically from one kelurahan to another, with most of the expensive land parcels in central Jakarta. However, in central Jakarta one could also easily find cheap land parcels whose values were lower than the lowest land values of some parcels in non-central regions of the city, reflecting the mixture of slums and skyscrapers in central Jakarta. Land values were not distributed evenly in the non-central regions. Rather, they were more expensive in west and south Jakarta than in north and east Jakarta. Spatial variables, especially distance to the central business district, were important in shaping land-value patterns in Jakarta, but the explanatory power of distance declined over time. The findings of this paper will not only be useful for an understanding of spatial land-value patterns in Asian cities, but will also be beneficial for investors and policy-makers in their decision-making processes.