2026 changed Bali’s property market more than the headlines suggest. Three national rules now decide together which villas can legally rent to tourists, and one parliamentary decision could bring demand that does not depend on tourism.
1 Aug 2026
booking platforms began removing holiday rentals without a licence
23.6%
of 22,653 Canggu listings sit in the tourism zone (AETHA analysis)
21 Jul 2026
parliament passed the financial centre law and named Bali as its location
The licence now decides
The tourism law (UU 18/2025), the risk-based licensing regulation (PP 28/2025) and the Ministry of Tourism’s regulation 6/2025 set the standards for holiday accommodation. In December 2025 the ministry asked booking platforms to remove listings without verified licence data. The first deadline, 31 March 2026, was extended twice; delisting started on 1 August 2026. In May 2026 only 31,233 of about 470,000 Indonesian holiday listings had verified licence data: one in fifteen.
A foreigner cannot run a holiday rental as a private person. It takes a company with a business ID (NIB), the right business code, a tourism standard certificate, a building approval (PBG) and a certificate of fitness for use (SLF).
The zone decides whether a licence is possible
The talk of pink, yellow and green zones is market slang, not law. The binding rules are in each regency’s detailed spatial plan and its permission matrix: permitted, limited, conditional or prohibited. The provincial framework, Bali Regulation 2/2023, caps buildings in tourism zones at 50% site coverage and 15 metres in height.
We checked 22,653 Canggu listings from AirDNA against the Badung zoning map. 23.6% sit in the tourism zone, where short-term rental is permitted. 58.4% sit in residential zones, where it is only conditional and may be refused. 17.5% sit on agricultural land, where it is effectively excluded. The tourism zone covers 18.4% of the corridor: a coastal strip 600 to 1,000 metres deep.
Our reading: fewer villas will be able to rent legally, and those in the right zone with a licence gain pricing power. This is an interpretation, not a forecast.
Fewer doors for new foreign companies
Since July 2026 Bali has closed 18 business lines to new foreign-owned companies in the national licensing system, among them hotels under 6,000 m², other accommodation and real estate. Existing licences stay valid. It is a governor’s administrative decision, so it can change. For a buyer this means a project whose operator already holds its licences is worth more than one that still plans to obtain them.
A financial centre on Serangan
On 21 July 2026 the Indonesian parliament passed the International Financial Centre law and named Bali as its location: the 498-hectare Kura Kura special economic zone on Serangan island, next to Denpasar. The law brings its own regulator, a common-law court and tax incentives.
Three numbers circulate and should be kept apart. About USD 93 million had actually been invested by the first quarter of 2026. USD 6.3 billion is the development target for the zone. USD 19–31 billion is what the financial centre as a whole aims to attract. The large numbers are targets. If the plan works, Bali gains year-round professional demand, and Denpasar, Sanur and the southern corridor are closest to it.
What this means for a buyer
- Check the zone of the plot on the official plan before anything else.
- Ask whose company holds, or will hold, the rental licence, and for its NIB.
- Treat any yield on a plot outside the tourism zone as unproven.
- Read the financial centre as a long-term option, not as a price driver for next year.
EM Villas sits in the tourism zone. Ask us for the zoning extract on a call.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Rules in Indonesia change, sometimes by administrative decision. Confirm your own position with a qualified adviser before you commit.