A luxury apartment is perceived as a symbol of prestige and achievement among wealthy individuals in most of the world’s metropolitan cities. As the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta has seen an increasing number of luxury apartment projects over the past decades. However, compared to neighbouring countries, the luxury apartment market in Jakarta is relatively small and yet to attract interest from overseas investors. On the other hand, many Indonesian high net worth individuals (HNWIs) have traditionally bought apartments offshore in Singapore, Hong Kong, Sidney and various first tier US cities. In this publication, we try to explore the factors contributing to this phenomenon and why the local market lags behind others.