Decision-making process used by middle-middle class families to access homeownership in Greater Jakarta, Indonesia

The middle class in Indonesia has become a significant social group as a result of the economic growth of the country since the 1990s. In this category, while 18% of the Indonesian population is considered as urban middle‐middle class 4% of the Indonesian population is rural middle‐middle class (ADB, 2010).The middle‐middle class families in Indonesia identified as have the annual income of IDR 90,000,000 ‐300,000,000 (AUD $ 90,000 ‐ 300,000) (ADB, 2010). Currently, Urban middle‐middle class families in Greater Jakarta deal with several problems regarding housing and access to services and infrastructure. One of these is the difficulty to become homeowners for the first time due to the high price of properties. This is a problem faced not just by Jakarta’s residents, but most urban middle‐middle class families who live in the big cities in Indonesia. This issue is a significant that has been challenge discussed in the national media over the last five years since this group cannot enjoy access to either the subsidized housing from the public sector and affordable the housing developed by the private sector. As a result, the middle‐middle class families need to develop several strategies to overcome the obstacles to become homeowners.By using a decision‐making process framework for housing access, this research addresses the broad research question: What are the dominant factors influencing the decision‐making process to access homeownership by the middle‐middle class families in Greater Jakarta? This question is then disaggregated into three secondary questions:1.\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0 What are the obstacles that the middle‐middle class families have to face in order to owning a house in Greater Jakarta?2.\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0 What are the strategies taken by the middle‐middle class families in Greater Jakarta to become homeowners?3.\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0 What kind of trade‐offs that the middle‐middle class families have to make to access homeownership in Greater Jakarta?This study is an exploratory and an explanatory study, using a qualitative research methodology. In depth interviews were the tool for collection of primary data. The research successfully interviewed 35 middle-middle class families living in Greater Jakarta as participants. Families were divided in two groups: homeowners (MH group: 21 families) and families who do not have a house yet but are in the process of becoming homeowners (MNH group:14 families). Participants were selected through the snowballing and purposive sampling. Content analysis was used to analyze primary data, following the stages and main components of the decision-making process framework.The findings of this thesis are: (1) This thesis was manage The characteristic of the urban middle-middle class in Jakarta: a. more middle-middle class families are double income families than single income group families, b. husbands and wives have the same opportunities to reach higher degree, but more man holding post graduate degrees, c. families who are homeowners have minimum income IDR 120,000,000 or AUD 12,000 annually down identified by their. Middle-middle class families realize that assets are important for them, e. Middle-middle class families have a good relationship with extended families and maintaining the friendship and network to balancing their life. (2) The This thesis also found that middle-middle class families in Greater Jakarta that use the decision-making process stages on their intention to buy their first home as well as to identify the gap between their obstacles and ability to buy their first home. Some families have been successful in buying their first home, while some have not. (3) This thesis finds that price (finance) is the biggest obstacle that the middle-middle class have to face while location as the most flexible trade-off that families are willing to compromise as one of the strategies to own their first home.This thesis contributes a theoretical discussion of the decision-making process for home ownership by identifying obstacles, strategies and trade-offs faced by middle-middle class families in every stage of decision-making process.\ua0 Furthermore, this research compares the situation of two middle class group: those who own a house (MH group) and those who do not own a house yet (MNH group) but are trying to get one in the near future. This approach constitutes an innovative approach as it allows to understand the decision-making process that lead families with similar characteristics to get different outcomes in relation to homeownership. It is a contribution to the policy debate on urban and social development