# Winston Lee’s MilikiRumah aims to rehabilitate Indonesia’s mortgage hopefuls - **Source:** EdgeProp Singapore - **Published:** 2026-09-18T02:00:00.000Z - **Author:** Cecilia Chow - **Original:** https://www.edgeprop.sg/property-news/winston-lees-miliki-rumah-aims-rehabilitate-indonesias-mortgage-hopefuls - **Topics:** Transactions & Deals, Investment & Capital Markets, Sustainability & PropTech ## Featured rationale Its credit coaching and 12-month rent-to-own model could expand mortgage access for underbanked buyers, potentially converting previously unqualified demand into new-home transactions. ## AI summary MilikiRumah has assessed over 50,000 prospective Indonesian homebuyers for nearly 200 projects, with around 15,000 to 17,000 classified as potentially rehabilitatable “amber” borrowers. ## Original article In Indonesia, some locals have taken to calling Singaporean entrepreneur Winston Lee’s proptech platform MilikiRumah a rumah sakit, meaning “hospital” in Indonesian. The patients it treats, however, do not have physical ailments. They are prospective homebuyers with unhealthy credit histories, irregular incomes or too much debt — people whom conventional banks may regard as too risky for a mortgage. Lee wants to rehabilitate them. Through MilikiRumah (“to own a home”, in Indonesian), CEO and co-founder Lee is combining AI, financial coaching and a rent-to-own programme to help underbanked Indonesians become “bankable” — and eventually own their first home. Looking to invest in overseas properties? Explore projects available for sale around the world “I’m not asking the banks to lower their requirements for the consumers,” says Lee. “I’m raising the standard of consumers to the banks’ requirements.” The approach stems from what he sees as a fundamental gap in Indonesia’s housing and financial systems. Gap in mortgage financing While affordability remains an issue, he argues that one of the biggest hurdles to homeownership is gaining access to mortgage financing in the first place. According to data released by Statistics Indonesia, or Badan Pusat Statistik, on Aug 22, about 12.39% of Indonesian households — or about 9.29 million households — do not own a home in 2026. The homeownership backlog is particularly acute in Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta, or the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, where 39.36% of households do not own a home, the highest proportion among Indonesia’s provinces. Lee estimates that about 60% of Indonesians — including entrepreneurs, small-business owners and freelancers — do not have a fixed monthly income. While Statistics Indonesia does not classify workers according to whether their income is fixed or variable, its latest labour-force data shows that 87.74 million people, or about 59.4% of Indonesia’s employed population, were working in the informal sector as at February 2026. Unlike salaried employees, many in the informal sector, such as street vendors, gig workers and other self-employed individuals, lack payslips or other documentation banks typically rely on to assess a mortgage application, says Lee. Some may operate predominantly in cash, making it harder to document their income even if they earn enough to service a housing loan, he adds. Read also: Fraxtor co-invests in Greater Osaka's UIB Konan Phase 3 in first JV with listed Reit Others have accumulated debts or damaged their credit histories through missed or defaulted payments on credit cards, car loans or buy-now-pay-later schemes. “The irony is that the banks gravitate heavily towards the salaried employee,” says Lee. It was this gap between the bankable and the unbankable that he set out to address. Indonesia’s population size was another reason he chose the country as MilikiRumah’s first market. For an AI-based system designed to predict consumer bankability, large volumes of data are critical, and Lee says Indonesia’s large population provided the broad sample pool needed to build and refine its model. Finding the ‘amber’ borrower Lee and his team at MilikiRumah spent about a year developing an alternative credit-scoring system to assess prospective homebuyers, using large datasets and AI. Where a bank might effectively divide borrowers into those who qualify for a mortgage and those who do not, Lee’s system classifies prospective buyers into three categories: green, amber and red, much like traffic lights. “Green” consumers are considered bankable, while those classified as “red” face more fundamental financial difficulties. The group Lee sees as having the most potential for his platform is the “amber” segment. He considers them “the underbanked”, as they do not qualify for a mortgage today. However, MilikiRumah believes they could become bankable by reducing debt, improving income documentation, building a payment track record or, in some cases, increasing earnings. Read also: Radisson to open new hotel in Ungasan, Bali by 2029 Through its business-to-business platform, the company provides housing developers with an assessment of prospective buyers and identifies the financial issues that may be preventing an amber customer from qualifying for a mortgage. More than 100 property developers have subscribed to MilikiRumah’s platform, which covers nearly 200 new residential projects across Jakarta, East Java and West Java, says Lee. MilikiRumah has processed more than 50,000 prospective homebuyers so far. Lee says the green, amber and red segments each account for about a third of the total, putting the amber segment at around 15,000 to 17,000. From scoring to rent-to-own For a smaller group of borrowers, MilikiRumah has gone a step further. The company has selected four residential projects where it directly manages borderline borrowers through its proprietary 12-month rent-to-own programme. Participants make an initial downpayment of about 2% of the home’s purchase price, followed by monthly payments on the property. Over the course of the programme, MilikiRumah seeks to help participants build up equity equivalent to 5% of the home’s purchase price. At the same time, participants establish a 12-month payment record that can be used to demonstrate their ability to make regular payments. Participants can then present this payment record to a bank as evidence of their ability to make consistent monthly payments, with the aim of securing a mortgage to purchase the home. The programme goes beyond collecting payments. Participants must commit to paying down existing debts, building up savings, increasing their income or making other changes needed to improve their financial position. MilikiRumah’s client advisers — many of them former bankers — monitor participants’ progress. For business owners, that could also mean establishing more formal financial records by setting up a company or bank account and ensuring their income is properly documented. “The underlying problem is how to cut down personal debt,” Lee says. That makes financial literacy as important to the model as technology. He says some consumers may earn relatively good incomes but have accumulated debts far beyond what they can comfortably service. Others have become dependent on short-term borrowing without understanding how that debt could eventually prevent them from securing a home loan. MilikiRumah therefore sees its role not only as helping people secure mortgages and get a foot on the property ladder, but also as encouraging them to adopt healthier financial habits and maintain a healthy credit profile. End-to-end homeownership model Lee is extending the model further. MilikiRumah recently acquired an offline mortgage broker that has relationships with eight Indonesian banks. This allows it to help borrowers refinance after introductory mortgage rates expire and borrowing costs rise. Published mortgage prime lending rates among major Indonesian banks currently range from about 8% to 10%, excluding promotional discounts and special mortgage packages. That makes refinancing an important part of the model. For Lee, the aim is not merely to help someone qualify for a mortgage, but also to make sure the homeowner can continue servicing it over the longer term. However, if participants lose their income and are unable to continue making payments, they may have to leave the programme. Even so, he says the company intends to provide a “soft landing” for those in such circumstances and allow suitable participants to return to the programme when their financial situation improves. That balance between social impact and commercial returns is central to how Lee sees the business. The company is also exploring partnerships with at least three employment agencies. If a rent-to-own participant’s income falls short, Lee hopes to connect them with either a better-paying full-time job or supplementary part-time work. For someone who loses a job altogether, such agencies could provide another route back into the workforce. “We want to provide them with an additional safety net,” he says. He is also looking at another round of fundraising and exploring the possibility of acquiring a debt consolidation company in Indonesia. Lee does not describe MilikiRumah as a social enterprise. Rather, he calls it a “social impact private enterprise” — one intended to demonstrate that a company can make money while tackling a social problem. “People always think that if you do good, you cannot make money; and if you make money, you cannot do good,” says Lee. Rightkey Capital, which he founded in April 2024, is headquartered in Singapore and owns and operates MilikiRumah. The firm’s backers include Singapore-based multi-family office and asset manager Ruifeng Wealth Management, venture capital and private equity (VCPE) firm Tembusu Partners and fund manager Trigger Asset Management. An early investor and shareholder is PropertyGuru co-founder Jani Rautiainen. Indonesia as proving ground Lee moved to Jakarta in March 2025 and has been based there since. However, he returns to Singapore once a month to spend time with his family, meet his investors and update them on the company’s progress. Indonesia — with a population of 287.2 million as at mid-2026, based on Statistics Indonesia data — is the most populous country in Southeast Asia and the fourth most populous in the world, after India, China and the US. Lee sees similar gaps in access to home financing among underbanked consumers elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Potential markets include the Philippines, with a population of 116 million, followed by Vietnam with 101 million, and Thailand with 71.56 million. “Our business is really to serve the locals in these respective countries,” says Lee. These markets lack Singapore’s combination of subsidised public housing scheme and compulsory savings. He wants MilikiRumah to replicate part of the roles HDB and CPF play in Singapore in helping households in these other countries achieve homeownership. Lee says VCPE firms in the region have already approached the company, although discussions remain exploratory at this stage. A fascination that began at 12 For Lee, the belief that property ownership can change a family’s financial trajectory is personal. His father was a teacher rather than a businessman or corporate executive, but Lee watched him make what he describes as good property investments and eventually achieve financial independence. That left an indelible impression. Lee was 12 years old when he began accompanying his father on property viewings. While his friends were playing football, he recalls going through the classified advertisements in the newspaper and circling properties he imagined buying if he had $10 million. Without spreadsheets to track them back then, he kept his calculations on pen and paper. That childhood fascination eventually developed into a career in real estate technology. Lee later joined PropertyGuru when the company was still young. He gained not only from its employee stock options, he says, but also from watching its founders build the company into one of Singapore’s early technology unicorns. Years later, his own venture focuses on something very different. Rather than helping people search for property, he is trying to address something more fundamental: whether they can qualify for a mortgage to buy a home at all. Miliki Rumah’s programmes draw young first-time buyers, entrepreneurs with irregular or non-salaried incomes, and consumers carrying debts from multiple creditors. The largest groups so far, Lee says, are business owners and people struggling with debt. There are also single mothers navigating divorce proceedings who use the firm’s rent-to-own platform as an interim route to housing while their cases are being resolved. For Lee, that is where the opportunity — and the social mission — lies. “Property ownership is the way to improve social mobility,” he says, “and to change the trajectory of the low- to middle-income customers for the next generation.” ## Chinese translation > Translation model: grok_cli ### 温斯顿·李（Winston Lee）的MilikiRumah旨在“康复”印尼有意申请房贷者 通过MilikiRumah，首席执行官兼联合创始人李正在帮助金融服务不足的印尼人变得“具备银行贷款资格”，并拥有自己的住房。 在印尼，一些当地人开始把新加坡企业家温斯顿·李（Winston Lee）的房产科技平台MilikiRumah称作rumah sakit，在印尼语中意为“医院”。 不过，它所诊治的病人并无身体疾患。他们是信用记录不佳、收入不稳定或负债过多的潜在购房者——传统银行可能认为向这些人发放房贷风险过高。 李希望让他们“康复”。 通过MilikiRumah（印尼语意为“拥有一套住房”），首席执行官兼联合创始人李将人工智能、财务辅导与以租代购计划相结合，帮助金融服务不足的印尼人变得“具备银行贷款资格”，并最终拥有人生中的第一套房。 想投资海外房产？浏览世界各地可供出售的项目 “我并不是要求银行降低对消费者的门槛，”李说。“我是在把消费者的水平提升到银行的要求。”这一做法源于他眼中印尼住房与金融体系中的一个根本缺口。 房贷融资缺口 尽管负担能力仍是问题，但他认为，实现住房自有的最大障碍之一，首先是能否获得房贷融资。 根据印尼统计局（Statistics Indonesia，即Badan Pusat Statistik）8月22日公布的数据，2026年约有12.39%的印尼家庭——约929万户——没有自有住房。 住房自有缺口在雅加达特区（Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta，即雅加达首都特区）尤为突出，当地39.36%的家庭没有自有住房，为印尼各省份中比例最高。 李估计，约60%的印尼人——包括企业家、小企业主和自由职业者——没有固定月收入。虽然印尼统计局并不按收入固定或浮动对劳动者分类，但其最新劳动力数据显示，截至2026年2月，有8,774万人、约占印尼就业人口的59.4%在非正规部门工作。 李说，与受薪雇员不同，非正规部门中的许多人，例如街头小贩、零工和其他自雇人士，缺少银行评估房贷申请通常所依赖的工资单或其他文件。他补充说，有些人主要以现金经营，即使收入足以偿还住房贷款，也更难证明收入。 另读：Fraxtor与上市房地产投资信托首次合资，共同投资大大阪UIB Konan第三期 另一些人则因信用卡、汽车贷款或先买后付计划出现逾期或违约，累积了债务或损害了信用记录。 “讽刺的是，银行高度偏向受薪雇员，”李说。 正是具备银行贷款资格者与不具备资格者之间的这一缺口，他着手要去填补。 印尼的人口规模是他选择该国作为MilikiRumah首个市场的另一原因。对于一套旨在预测消费者银行贷款资格的人工智能系统而言，海量数据至关重要，李表示，印尼庞大的人口提供了构建并完善模型所需的广泛样本池。 寻找“琥珀色”借款人 李及其MilikiRumah团队花费约一年时间，利用大数据集和人工智能，开发了一套评估潜在购房者的替代信用评分系统。 银行实际上可能把借款人分成有资格获得房贷和没有资格两类，而李的系统则把潜在买家分为三类：绿色、琥珀色和红色，类似于交通灯。 “绿色”消费者被视为具备银行贷款资格，而被归为“红色”的人则面临更根本的财务困难。 李认为对其平台最具潜力的群体是“琥珀色”细分。他把他们视为“金融服务不足者”，因为他们目前无法获得房贷。不过，MilikiRumah认为，通过减少债务、改善收入证明、建立还款记录，或在某些情况下提高收入，他们可以变得具备银行贷款资格。 另读：Radisson将于2029年前在巴厘岛Ungasan开设新酒店 通过其企业对企业平台，该公司向住房发展商提供潜在买家评估，并识别可能阻碍琥珀色客户获得房贷资格的财务问题。 李说，已有超过100家房产发展商订阅MilikiRumah的平台，覆盖雅加达、东爪哇和西爪哇近200个新建住宅项目。 MilikiRumah迄今已处理超过50,000名潜在购房者。李说，绿色、琥珀色和红色细分大约各占总数的三分之一，琥珀色细分约为15,000至17,000人。 从评分到以租代购 对于较小一批借款人，MilikiRumah更进一步。 该公司已选定四个住宅项目，通过其专有的12个月以租代购计划直接管理临界借款人。 参与者先支付约为房价2%的首付款，随后按月为该物业付款。 在计划过程中，MilikiRumah力求帮助参与者积累相当于房价5%的权益。与此同时，参与者建立起可用于证明其具备定期付款能力的12个月还款记录。 参与者随后可将这份还款记录提交给银行，作为其能够持续按月付款的证据，旨在获得房贷以购买该住房。 该计划并不止于收款。参与者必须承诺偿还现有债务、积累储蓄、提高收入，或作出改善财务状况所需的其他改变。 MilikiRumah的客户顾问——其中许多人曾任银行职员——会监测参与者的进展。 对业主而言，这也可能意味着通过设立公司或银行账户、确保收入得到妥善记录，来建立更正规的财务记录。 “根本问题是如何削减个人债务，”李说。 这使得财务素养对该模式而言与技术同等重要。他说，一些消费者收入可能相对不错，但累积的债务远超其可轻松偿还的水平。另一些人则依赖短期借贷，却不了解这些债务最终可能阻碍他们获得住房贷款。 因此，MilikiRumah认为自身的角色不仅是帮助人们获得房贷、踏上置业阶梯，还在于鼓励他们养成更健康的财务习惯，并维持良好的信用状况。 端到端住房自有模式 李正在进一步延伸这一模式。MilikiRumah最近收购了一家与八家印尼银行有合作关系的线下房贷经纪公司。这使其能够在优惠入门房贷利率到期、借贷成本上升后，帮助借款人进行再融资。 印尼主要银行公布的房贷最优惠贷款利率目前约为8%至10%，不含促销折扣和特别房贷套餐。 这使再融资成为该模式的重要组成部分。对李而言，目标不仅是帮助某人获得房贷资格，还要确保业主能够在更长期内持续偿还贷款。 不过，如果参与者失去收入、无法继续付款，他们可能不得不退出该计划。 即便如此，他说公司打算为处于此类情况的人提供“软着陆”，并允许合适的参与者在财务状况改善后重返该计划。 社会影响与商业回报之间的这种平衡，是李看待这项业务的核心。 该公司还在探索与至少三家职业介绍机构合作。如果以租代购参与者的收入不足，李希望为他们对接薪酬更高的全职工作或补充性兼职。对于完全失业的人，这类机构可以提供重返职场的另一条路径。 “我们希望为他们提供额外的安全网，”他说。 他还在考虑新一轮融资，并探索在印尼收购一家债务整合公司的可能性。 李并不把MilikiRumah称为社会企业。相反，他称之为“社会影响型私营企业”——旨在证明一家公司可以在应对社会问题的同时赚钱。 “人们总是认为，做好事就不能赚钱；赚了钱就不能做好事，”李说。 他于2024年4月创办的Rightkey Capital总部位于新加坡，拥有并运营MilikiRumah。 该公司的支持者包括总部位于新加坡的多家族办公室兼资产管理公司Ruifeng Wealth Management、风险投资与私募股权（VCPE）公司Tembusu Partners，以及基金管理公司Trigger Asset Management。早期投资者兼股东是PropertyGuru联合创始人Jani Rautiainen。 印尼作为试验场 李于2025年3月迁往雅加达，此后一直常驻当地。不过，他每月回新加坡一次，陪伴家人、会见投资者并向他们汇报公司进展。 根据印尼统计局数据，截至2026年年中人口为2.872亿的印尼，是东南亚人口最多的国家，也是仅次于印度、中国和美国的世界第四人口大国。 李认为，东南亚其他地区金融服务不足的消费者在住房融资可及性方面也存在类似缺口。潜在市场包括人口1.16亿的菲律宾，其次是人口1.01亿的越南，以及人口7,156万的泰国。 “我们的业务实际上是服务这些国家各自的本地居民，”李说。 这些市场缺乏新加坡补贴性公共住房计划与强制储蓄的组合。他希望MilikiRumah能够部分复制组屋（HDB）和公积金（CPF）在新加坡所扮演的角色，帮助这些国家的家庭实现住房自有。 李说，区域内的风险投资与私募股权公司已经接触过该公司，不过现阶段讨论仍属探索性质。 始于12岁的迷恋 对李而言，房产所有权可以改变一个家庭财务轨迹的信念是个人化的。他的父亲是教师，而非商人或企业高管，但李看着父亲做出他所称的良好房产投资，并最终实现财务独立。这留下了不可磨灭的印象。 李从12岁起就开始陪父亲看房。当朋友们在踢足球时，他回忆自己翻阅报纸分类广告，圈出他想象中若有新币1,000万元就会买下的物业。当时没有电子表格可追踪，他用纸笔做计算。 这份童年迷恋最终发展成房地产科技生涯。李后来在PropertyGuru仍处早期时加入该公司。他说，他不仅从员工股票期权中获益，还亲眼看着创始人把公司打造成新加坡早期科技独角兽之一。 多年后，他自己的创业项目聚焦于截然不同的事情。他不是帮人找房，而是试图解决更根本的问题：他们究竟能否获得房贷去买房。 Miliki Rumah的计划吸引年轻的首次购房者、收入不稳定或非受薪的企业家，以及背负多家债权人债务的消费者。李说，迄今最大的群体是业主和深陷债务的人。 还有正在办理离婚手续的单亲母亲，在案件处理期间把该公司的以租代购平台作为过渡性住房途径。 对李而言，机会——以及社会使命——就在于此。 “房产所有权是提升社会流动性的途径，”他说，“也是改变低收入至中等收入客户下一代轨迹的途径。”