GlobeQuest

Where to live in Surabaya

Surabaya is cheap for what you get and it is decided almost entirely by the commute, because there is no rail metro to rescue a bad choice. The metropolitan area runs continuously from the western gated developments through the colonial centre to the industrial south-east and on into Sidoarjo — and it crosses two regency boundaries on the way, which changes your civil registry office, your property tax authority and your minimum wage without changing anything you can see. The other thing to internalise before you start looking: houses here are advertised and rented by the year, not by the month, and 'kontrak' means a lump sum paid up front. Apartments and serviced units offer monthly terms; a family house in Citraland almost never will.

The neighbourhoods

Darmo & Dr. Soetomo

IDR 100,000,000–250,000,000 / year for a house

The colonial-era residential boulevard and the streets behind it — mature trees, large old houses, and the most established address in the city

CentralCharacterFamiliesQuiet

Commute: 10–20 minutes to the centre; 30–45 to the western clusters or Rungkut

  • The best old houses in Surabaya, with real gardens and space
  • Genuinely central and close to hospitals and schools
  • Tree cover that measurably lowers the temperature relative to the newer districts
  • Almost never advertised publicly — these move through networks
  • Old buildings mean old wiring, damp and expensive maintenance
  • Expensive by Surabaya standards, though cheap against Jakarta

Gubeng, Kertajaya & Sulawesi

IDR 3,500,000–7,000,000 / month for a flat; IDR 60,000,000–140,000,000 / year for a house

Central-east Surabaya — the café and small-restaurant belt, walkable by local standards, around the main railway station

Young professionalsWalkableFoodiesTransit

Commute: Central; Gubeng station puts Sidoarjo and Malang on the commuter line

  • The closest Surabaya gets to a neighbourhood you can live in on foot
  • Gubeng station is the city's main rail hub
  • Good mid-range restaurants and the best coffee scene in the city
  • Busy and noisy on the main roads
  • Housing stock is a mix and quality varies enormously street to street
  • Limited large family housing

Citraland & Pakuwon Indah (west)

IDR 80,000,000–250,000,000 / year for a house

Large master-planned gated developments on the western hills — wide roads, new build, and where most foreign families end up

FamiliesSchoolsSpaceModern buildings

Commute: 35–60 minutes to the centre; considerably longer to Rungkut or Sidoarjo

  • The main international schools are here or nearby
  • New, well-maintained houses with reliable utilities and security
  • Noticeably cooler and greener than the flat eastern districts
  • Long commutes to anywhere east or south, with no rail alternative
  • Entirely car-dependent — nothing is walkable
  • Insulated: you can live here for years and meet very little of Surabaya

Dharmahusada & Mulyosari (east)

IDR 50,000,000–120,000,000 / year for a house

The university side of the city — Airlangga and ITS campuses, teaching hospitals, and comfortable middle-class housing

FamiliesValueCommunityQuiet

Commute: 20–35 minutes to the centre; close to the eastern hospitals

  • Excellent value for space and quality compared with west Surabaya
  • Next to the universities and the main teaching hospitals
  • A real neighbourhood rather than a development, with markets and small shops
  • Very little English spoken and few services aimed at foreigners
  • Flat, hot and short on tree cover
  • Some low-lying pockets take standing water in heavy rain

Rungkut & the MERR corridor

IDR 40,000,000–100,000,000 / year for a house

South-east Surabaya around the SIER industrial estate — practical, unglamorous, and where a lot of the plants actually are

BudgetCommute to industrySpaceValue

Commute: Minutes to SIER; 25–40 to the centre on the MERR ring road

  • Cheapest decent family housing in Surabaya proper
  • On the doorstep of the industrial estate, which removes the commute problem entirely
  • The MERR ring road makes the rest of the east genuinely accessible
  • Industrial surroundings, traffic and noise
  • Air quality is the worst in the city on still days
  • Very little to do locally in the evenings

Waru & north Sidoarjo

IDR 30,000,000–80,000,000 / year for a house

Just over the southern boundary — dense, cheap, and closest to both the airport and the southern industrial belt

BudgetAirport accessCommute to industryValue

Commute: Minutes to Juanda airport and the southern plants; 30–50 to central Surabaya

  • The cheapest housing in the metropolitan area by a wide margin
  • Closest to Juanda airport, which is in Sidoarjo rather than Surabaya
  • Direct access to the toll road and the southern industrial corridor
  • This is Sidoarjo regency, so a different civil registry, tax office and minimum wage
  • Dense, hot and traffic-choked on the main arteries
  • Flood-prone in places and worth checking street by street

How renting works in Surabaya

Indonesia has no rent control, no statutory deposit cap and very little tenant-protective legislation — a residential tenancy is governed by the Civil Code and, at the framework level, by Government Regulation 14/2016 on the implementation of housing and settlement areas — which repealed the older Regulation 44/1994 that most relocation guides still cite — and beyond that it is whatever the contract says. A fixed-term lease ends on its date with no automatic right of renewal and no statutory notice period. The Surabaya convention that surprises people is the payment structure: houses are advertised at an annual price and paid as a lump sum for the whole term, often with no separate deposit at all, because the year in advance is the landlord's security.

  1. 1

    Establish the regency before you fall in love with the house

    Ask which kelurahan and which city or regency the address sits in, and get it written into the lease. Waru looks and feels like Surabaya and is Sidoarjo; parts of the north-west are Gresik. It determines which civil registry issues your SKTT, which tax office you register with, and which authority assesses property tax. Agents describe the whole conurbation as Surabaya because that is what buyers search for.

  2. 2

    Do the commute before you sign, at the hour you will actually do it

    There is no metro here and no rail alternative for most corridors, so a bad choice cannot be worked around. Drive from the candidate house to your workplace at 07:30 on a weekday and again at 17:30. Citraland to Rungkut and Waru to the western clusters are the two journeys that look reasonable on a map and are punishing every day.

  3. 3

    Understand that 'kontrak' means the whole year, up front

    Landed houses are let per year and paid in full at signing. Two-year terms attract a discount and are commonly offered. There is often no separate deposit because the prepayment serves that purpose — which also means there is nothing held back to argue about at the end, and equally nothing you can withhold if something breaks. Negotiate the repair obligations into the contract instead.

  4. 4

    Move the money by transfer with a receipt, never in cash

    A year's rent on a family house is a large sum and ATM withdrawal caps make cash impractical anyway. Pay by bank transfer from an account in your name, get a signed receipt, and keep both. With no deposit-protection scheme and no statutory dispute mechanism, your documentation is the entirety of your protection.

  5. 5

    Get the lease stamped, and know what the stamp does

    Indonesian practice affixes e-meterai stamp duty to the signed agreement. The stamp bears on admissibility as evidence in court, not on validity — an unstamped lease is still a contract and duty can be paid retrospectively. Anyone telling you an unstamped agreement is void is wrong. For a long or high-value lease, having a notary draw or witness it is worth the modest fee.

  6. 6

    Introduce yourself to the RT and RW in your first week

    The heads of your block and neighbourhood cluster expect it, and their letter is what the police report and then your SKTT residence certificate depend on. Bring copies of your passport and permit. In residential Surabaya this is also how you become a person the neighbourhood knows rather than the foreigner in the house on the corner, which is worth more than it sounds.

Upfront cost

For a landed house: the full year's rent at signing, sometimes two years for a discount, frequently with no separate deposit. For an apartment or serviced unit: monthly or quarterly terms are available, usually with one to two months' deposit plus a monthly service charge and parking fee on top. Agent commission is normally paid by the landlord but confirm it, and factor in air-conditioning-heavy electricity in a city this hot.

Where to search

Rumah123 and 99.co Indonesia — the largest general portals, with the widest Surabaya coverageTravelio and Jendela360 — apartment platforms offering the monthly and furnished terms that houses do notThe estate management office inside Citraland, Pakuwon Indah and the other gated developments, which holds listings that never reach a portalFacebook and WhatsApp groups for foreign residents and international school parents, where handovers circulate before they are advertisedLocal agents working a single district — the Darmo villas in particular move almost entirely through themYour employer's HR or relocation contact, which in Surabaya is usually the fastest route because the same houses cycle between company tenants

Insider tips

  • Ask specifically about the air conditioning: how many units, how old, and who pays to repair them. In a city that runs hotter than Jakarta with no cool season, this is the single largest running cost and the most common source of mid-tenancy disputes.
  • Check the electricity supply rating (daya) in VA before signing. Older houses are wired for a lower rating than a household with several air conditioners and a water heater actually needs, and upgrading it is your problem and takes weeks.
  • In a landed house, ask whether water is piped from PDAM or drawn from a well, and how the well performs in the dry season. Surabaya's dry season is sharper than Jakarta's and it shows.
  • If your employer signs the lease, note that Indonesian law imposes a final tax on rental income from land and buildings and the corporate tenant is the withholding party. Landlords often quote net and expect the company to gross it up. Settle who bears it in the contract.
  • Two-year terms genuinely reduce the annual rate here, and if your posting is a fixed multi-year assignment the discount is real money. Just make sure there is an exit clause tied to your work permit, because if the permit ends the lease does not.
  • Photograph and date everything at handover, including the air-conditioning units, the water heater and the electrical board. There is no deposit-protection scheme and no statutory dispute process — your evidence is your protection.

Avoid these

  • Assuming an address is in Surabaya when it is in Sidoarjo or Gresik, and discovering it when you go to apply for your SKTT.
  • Committing to a house in the western clusters while working in Rungkut or Sidoarjo, with no rail alternative to soften it.
  • Paying a year's rent in cash across multiple withdrawals with no receipt and no transfer record.
  • Believing an unstamped lease is invalid — the stamp affects evidence in court, not the contract's existence.
  • Signing without agreeing who repairs and replaces the air conditioning, in the city where it matters most.
  • Taking a multi-year term with no exit clause tied to your work permit, then having the permit end before the lease does.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.

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