Which Bali villas for sale are actually worth buying?
// Short answer
Most of them are not. I went through 949 villas for sale in Bali and ran every one through the same checks I would run before buying anything myself. Only 69 passed, about 7%. A foreigner buys a lease, not land, so the question is never whether the price looks good. It is whether the rent pays you back before the lease ends. Below: the video, then the four pairs written out, one villa I would buy and one I would not in each.
Listings as listed on 16 October 2026; agency and developer names withheld. Rents and payback are estimates from similar villas after costs. Not financial advice: check the lease on the deed.
The video
- 0:00 949 Bali villas, 4 pairs
- 0:27 Leasehold: what a foreigner actually buys
- 0:46 The 3 checks I run on every villa
- 1:04 Pair 1: Canggu (Berawa)
- 2:00 Pair 2: Seminyak
- 2:47 Pair 3: Ubud
- 3:44 Pair 4: Uluwatu
- 4:22 The result: 69 of 949
- 4:56 I can run this for you, anywhere
- 5:50 Which would you have picked?
On this page
- What does a foreigner actually buy in Bali?
- What are the three checks on every villa?
- Pair 1, Canggu (Berawa): the loft or the villa?
- Pair 2, Seminyak: the cheap one or the expensive one?
- Pair 3, Ubud: the villa with the promised return?
- Pair 4, Uluwatu: the big garden or the smaller plot?
- How many Bali villas for sale actually pass?
- Can you run this for my budget?
What does a foreigner actually buy in Bali?
A lease. A foreigner cannot own land in Bali in their own name, so almost every villa sold to foreigners is leasehold: you buy a set number of years, and when the lease runs out the villa goes back to the landowner. That is why the 169 freehold villas among the 949 were out of the analysis straight away.
So the real question is not whether the price is good. It is whether the rent pays you back before the lease ends. The lease clock, extensions and what happens at the end are in the Bali leasehold guide.
What are the three checks on every villa?
First, the price for every year you actually get, compared with similar villas. Second, the real rent: what similar villas actually charge and how often they are booked, or what one tenant pays for a whole year. Third, the running costs: staff, a manager, booking fees, the pool and repairs. In Bali these add up fast.
Rents are set at the lower end, the way I always do it. You can run the same three checks yourself with the free Bali Villa Screen.
Pair 1, Canggu (Berawa): the loft or the villa?
The villa. A one-bedroom loft at about $200,000 with 17 years left, against a three-bedroom villa at about $181,000 with 25 years left. The loft's listing claims 85% occupancy at $115 a night; similar places go for about $103 and are booked closer to 72%. With 17 years left, it never pays you back.
| Price | Lease left | Price per year you get | Pays back? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-bed loft | about $200,000 | 17 years | almost $12,000 | No, not in 17 years |
| 3-bed villa | about $181,000 | 25 years | about $7,200 | Yes, in about 19 of the 25 years |
On nightly lets the villa barely makes anything after costs. Let to one tenant for a whole year, it pays back in about 19 of its 25 years. The loft has the better story on the listing. The villa has the better numbers.
Pair 2, Seminyak: the cheap one or the expensive one?
The expensive one. A three-bedroom at about $420,000 looks cheap for its size, less than half the usual price per square metre for the area, but only 8 years are left: about $52,000 for every year you get. A four-bedroom at about $550,000 with 56 years left, per the listing, works out to just under $10,000 a year.
| Price | Lease left | Price per year you get | Pays back? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-bed | about $420,000 | 8 years | about $52,000 | No |
| 4-bed | about $550,000 | 56 years (listing) | just under $10,000 | Slowly: about 33 years, inside the 56 |
The first listing mentions a possible 20-year extension, with no price. An extension you have not agreed on is just hope. The 56 years on the second is the first thing to confirm on the deed. Always look at the price per year, not the price.
Pair 3, Ubud: the villa with the promised return?
No, the one with no promises. A one-bedroom at about $240,000 with 25 years left offers a fixed return for the first 2 years, but is priced almost 40% above the usual per square metre for Ubud, and on my estimate loses a little money every year once costs are in. A four-bedroom at about $234,000 with 23 years left works.
| Price | Lease left | Price per year you get | Pays back? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-bed, fixed-return offer | about $240,000 | 25 years | about $9,600 | No, loses money yearly |
| 4-bed, not built yet | about $234,000 | 23 years | about $10,200 | Yes, in about 19 of the 23 years |
The promised return covers 2 years out of 25, and a promise is only as good as whoever pays it: find out exactly who that is and what happens when it ends. The four-bedroom is not built yet, so check the developer's track record first; on the numbers, let by the year, it pays back.
Pair 4, Uluwatu: the big garden or the smaller plot?
The smaller plot. Two three-bedroom villas: about $270,000 with 19 years left and a big garden, against about $217,000 with 23 years left. Big land does not pay the bills: let by the year, the first never pays back in 19 years. The second pays back in about 14 and a half.
| Price | Lease left | Price per year you get | Pays back? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-bed, big garden | about $270,000 | 19 years | about $14,200 | No, not in 19 years |
| 3-bed, smaller plot | about $217,000 | 23 years | about $9,400 | Yes, in about 14.5 years |
The second listing mentions an extension option with no price, so I count only the 23 years on the lease. Even then, it works.
How many Bali villas for sale actually pass?
69 of 949, about 7%, on listings as listed on 16 October 2026. Most of the rest fail the same way: the rent would not pay back the price before the lease runs out. Even with typical rents instead of the lower end, about 70% still do not pay back.
21 listings told you what return you would make. 19 gave a number I could check, and all 19 came in above my estimate. In each pair, the villa worth buying had more years for the money, a fair price for each of those years, and rent that still works after every cost. None of that is in the photos.
How to run the search yourself: how to find a villa to buy in Bali.
Can you run this for my budget?
Yes, in Bali or anywhere else property is for sale. You tell me the budget and the area. I go through every listing for sale there that week and run each one through the same numbers: the price per year, the real rent, every running cost, and whether it pays back. Brinkman Data is not an agent and takes no commission.
You get a report with the shortlist worth buying, plus a spreadsheet of every listing, so you can see why the rest did not make it. See what the report looks like.
// Buying in Bali, or anywhere else?
I run this exact analysis on every listing for sale in your area and budget: the price for every year you get, the real rent, every running cost, and whether it pays you back. You get the shortlist worth buying and a spreadsheet of every listing. Not an agent, no commission. Any city, any country.
See what the report looks likeFrequently Asked Questions
Can foreigners buy a villa in Bali?
How do you tell if a Bali leasehold villa is worth buying?
How many Bali villas for sale pass that test?
Are the returns quoted in Bali villa listings accurate?
Should I count a lease extension option?
Header photo: Simon_sees, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. All credits: image credits.