For some time already you can find in this section of UbudProperty’s website observations regarding Ubud, the life here and almost always information on smart investing.
We, the team of UbudProperty, are proud of what our business has so far done in helping hundreds of expats and a growing number of Indonesians to start a new life here in Ubud, or to generate a healthy extra income from renting out or just investing with the view to reap the benefits from rising prices.
Of course, this is written by someone who is receiving a fee when visitors and migrants like it here and want to be part of what is going on.  It should go without saying that we work and give professional service against a fee, like anybody else does.

However, to clarify in case you did not know - the Company’s income derives from commissions which the vendors pay us.                                         
You, our king, buyer and investor, being interested in all there is to Ubud, is receiving quality advice and service from A-Z at the ZERO TARIFF.
Part of this service is working out  the best solution relating to your personal situation and plan.
Maybe you think about settling and looking for a place to rent, to long-term lease or to buy some land or a house to live in. We listen to you, and ask our questions to complete the information until we believe to be able to give valid advice. Only then we believe we can find your match among the many options in our listings.

Even early and before you may consider to move here at all, we are happy to give you a preview on your expected future life style, based on uncountable discussions we had with clients and our colleagues knowledge and experience.
We probably all agree, to make or have money is a good thing. Therefore, we may in a minute look closer at one aspect which is sometimes overlooked when thinking about settling and spending considerable money here: Will the local community support you, how does tourism affect their lives and eventually your rental income?

For sure, buying property here offers attractive investment returns, but the true underlying value is in the combination of an unsurpassed life style, should you be able to use your investment for personal enjoyment too.
You probably don’t need to hear me drooling again about the good life in Ubud. Been there. Done that many times.
No. Today we will look instead at some collected data and try to extract what is relevant to you. The idea is to look for possible negative indicators, which may say: ’If this gets worse, better not join the present trend to settle in Ubud.
OR – if you find encouraging information which adds to your own observations, it may feel good finding even more reassurance that you can’t go wrong when joining this place.

Let’s start with developing a feel for our social environment ’the Ubud Community’. How are they doing, and what the Balinese population as such can expect in the years to come.  Their wellbeing is an important element in our, the expat’s experience here.  The better they are off, the happier we all can be, because the overall ambiance is largely dependent on rather meeting smiles than hungry or sad faces.

A sad fact - Poverty in Bali September 2018 touched 3.91% or about 200 000 people out of 4.2 Million Balinese.
However, I found nowhere an indication as to what the ’poverty threshold’ really means.  Just that in rural areas poverty is double as high as in urban areas. For some time, poverty will likely remain a serious problem.  Because of the rising tourism the prices for consumables go up and poor families without or on a very small income will suffer even more.
When we compare those 200 000 poor people against the 3 Million visitors to Bali per year and the 5.5 Milliard US Dollar being brought here by them, it shows that there is an essential distribution key missing.  
The situation is recognized by the local Government.  Free health care, access to clean water and free solar energy for the poor are in discussion... and for us lucky ones, being well above the poverty line, - maybe let’s join a group, which is supporting the poor people in Bali. (As for some years already UbudProperty does).
What is nice to see, maybe due to better education and awareness regarding health matters, the life expectancy of the Balinese is increasing.

If in six years one year of additional life expectancy can be added, then in another 30 years the average life expectancy, also in Ubud, should be up to 77.   
(Unless fast food chains are allowed in and reduce the good trend).  Let’s join in prayer

Some more numbers:   
    • Total Fertility Rate, Children per Woman:2.13 (2010)
    • Infant Mortality Rate, Deaths per 1,000 Live Births:20.00 (2010)
    • Sex Ratio, Males per 100 Females:101.7 (2010)  - Lucky ladies, they get 1.7 man extra as choice ;o)
    • Adult Illiteracy Rate, %: 89.17 (2012)   
    • Households with access to improved sanitation, %: 83.26 (2011)
I know, all this has nothing directly to do with real estate, which is what you came looking for on our website, - but would you not want to know in which pond you will be swimming?
Good. Let’s find out more:

Maybe you wonder about future cost of living for you and your family. 

In April this year and in Denpasar, where there are very few expats living, the City experienced monthly inflation of 0.26 percent with the Consumer Price Index (2012 CPI = 100) amounting to 132.39. The inflation rate for April 2019 calendar year (Jan- April) was 0.68 percent while the year-on-year inflation rate (April 2019 to April 2018) was recorded at 2.24 percent.  
Here in Ubud, the rate would be higher, somewhat at 4%, which is just my uneducated guess.
The reason for this: We happily shop at Delta, Bintang or Pepito and other supermarkets where you get the strange eye when trying to bargain.  Other than at 5 in the morning at the Badung market in Denpasar.  The Ubud-business owner thinks: ’they surely can pay a bit more’ and up goes the price again, relating to the faster increasing prices for imported goods.
Should you consider to rent out a room or even plan to build commercial accommodation, understanding the underlying conditions is surely also useful:
The arrival of foreign tourists (tourists) to Bali Province in March 2019 was recorded to reach 449,637 visits.

In March this year the number of tourists increased by 2.77 percent compared to the records in February 2019 (m to m). When compared with March 2018 (y on y), the number of foreign tourists to Bali decreased as much as -8.74 percent. I think there is a reason for this. My guess is that the economical tension caused by trade wars and geo-political instability had many sit on their pockets and wait it out before spending on travelling.   
According to nationality, foreign tourists who recorded the most came to Bali in March 2019, namely tourists with Chinese nationality (19.38 percent), Australia (18.46 percent), India (5.86 percent), United States (5.03 percent) and the United Kingdom (4.75 percent).

Now, here is a hidden fact to discover:
The Star Hotel Room Occupancy Rate (TPK) in March 2019 was recorded at 55.43 percent, down -1.05 points compared to the previous month’s TPK (m to m) which reached 56.48 percent. When compared to March 2018 (y on y) which reached 61.19 percent, the room occupancy rate in March 2019, recorded a decline of -5.76 points. The average length of stay of guests in star hotels in Bali in March 2019 was recorded at 2.90 days, down -0.24 points compared to the average length of stay of guests in February 2019 (m to m) which reached 3.14 days. When compared with March 2018 (y on y) which reached 3.22 days, the average length of stay in March 2019 also decreased -0.32 points. Bali room occupancy rate was at level of 64.24 % in 2017, up from 61.74 % previous year.

Isn’t it Interesting? Tourist numbers went up, but 5 –star occupancy down. These people stay somewhere for sure. Maybe this explains why our villa rental service is running hot.
Following are some data relating to the Ubud community:

Ubud received a total visit of 245,228 in 2013, and 289,448 in 2014 (sorry, no update for recent years found) Tourism contributed here 43.97% to local Revenue in 2015. I borrowed many of the following data from a study of the below mentioned authors. They deserve the credit here:
Impacts of Tourism in Ubud Bali Indonesia: a community-based tourism perspective by N M Ernawati, N M Sudarmini and N M R Sukmawati - The perceptions of Ubud community members regarding tourism impacts were evaluated using 14 indicators which are measured using 5 ranges of score. The indicators inquire the agreement or disagreement of Ubud community members on the positive statements about the impact of tourism in Ubud. The smaller the score indicates the higher the level of approval on the positive impacts caused by tourism, vice versa.

The overall average perception is 1. 93 which shows that in general the people of Ubud agree that tourism has a positive impact on Ubud. However, when closely observed, there are 4 indicators having an average value above 2, which is a neutral opinion. Like most members of villages who express their opinions very subtly, a value above 2 which is a neutral opinion indicates a tendency toward ’disagreement’.

One of the indicators is a socio-cultural measure: ’Tourism accommodates the interests of all ages’ scores an average of 2.2, which is slightly above 2.  
Public perception on impact of tourism in Ubud: Life of the people of Ubud is well displayed 1.6 Members of the community are proud of Ubud 1.6.
Tourism helps people learn about Ubud history and heritage 1.9
Tourism strengthens friendships/relationships of community members 2.
Tourism accommodates the interests of all ages 2.2 .
Travelers visit to see the life of the people of Ubud 1.9 .
Physical development of supporting facilities takes place in a pleasing manner 2.4 .
Transportation development meets the needs in Ubud 2.6
Members of the community are proud of the cleanliness of Ubud 2.2
Ubud Artists benefit from tourism 1.8 .
Ubud community is economically assisted by tourism 1.6 .
The Number of tourist visits increase in Ubud 1.7
Jobs are created by tourism in Ubud 1.6 .
Retail activities increase due to tourism 1.8 .

Not surprisingly, the worst value is given to:  ’Transportation development meets the needs in Ubud’, the fact that Ubud has a crowded point located around Ubud palace and the art market. Besides as attractions, the place is also situated in a crossroad wherein vehicles from various directions will pass through the venue to reach the destination efficiently; however, nowadays the vehicles will be stuck in a traffic congestion as the route becomes a preference for the majority. Alternating traffic, introducing new routes or other traffic-flow strategy need to be developed to provide solutions, is an urgent matter.  (Only yesterday and per motor bike, it took me at lunch time from the Palace to the turnoff at the Sayan bridge 20 minutes.  Should be more like 2 only.)

Variable ’Physical development of tourism support occurs with fun’ got the worst result with number 2.
Cleanliness which is an environmental impact indicator also got a less good value.
The three variables that are environmental indicators are poorly rated, indicating that the community considers that the impact of tourism on the environment is a less positive result of tourism in Ubud.
There are 4 indicators that obtain the same favourable value that is 1.6. Two variables are sociocultural indicators: ’The life of Ubud people is well displayed’ and ’Members of the community are proud of Ubud’. This shows the tourism is very conducive in building public appreciation of culture and Ubud as cultural tourism. Two other variables are the main indicators of the economic dimension: ’Ubud society is economically assisted by tourism’ and ’Job vacancies are created by tourism in Ubud’. It shows that tourism contributes positively to the economics of the society. The results of Frequency analysis for all indicators in general show that on average 85% of respondents agree and 15% disagree that tourism contributes positively to Ubud in 3 dimensions: Socio-cultural, Economics and Environment.

Because the results of the Average analysis show that the impact of tourism in Ubud lies at 1.9,    it is evident that most people agree that the impact of tourism in Ubud is positive.  
No need to fear that tourism may be restricted anytime soon, as happened in other by tourisms overrun locations worldwide.

One reason more to consider providing accommodation against a rental income.

Have you ever thought of renting out?
We select suitable clients, you think about how to spend the money.

In May 2019 UbudProperty Rental Services have achieved occupancy rates of 70%, well above the industry’s average.  Bookings for June and July today, still in Mid-May, are already over 50%.  You can only win when renting out and let a professional agent do the work for you.

Well, if you made it through the often dry data until here, you deserve a decent pat on your shoulder. Life sure is too valuable to spend too many hours on numbers and statistics.  
However, when putting your money on the table in order to take care of the remaining days of your life, you want to be looking into the the plan from all angles.  Another step taken today.

If we can help you to find out any other specifics, please tell us what you want to know.  info@ubudproperty.com   
We are very happy to hear about your plans giving insights and advice!

With best wishes for the good life to come -
Ray, for the UbudProperty Team