3 out of 10 members of the 21st National Assembly own multiple homes... Average assets amount to 2.18 billion KRW

On the 4th, attendees hold placards at the press conference presenting the analysis of real estate assets of the 21st National Assembly members, held at the auditorium of the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] It has been revealed that the average real estate assets per member of the 21st National Assembly amount to 1.35 billion KRW. Three out of ten lawmakers were multi-homeowners owning two or more houses.

The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) held a press conference on the 4th at the CCEJ auditorium in Jongno-gu, Seoul, to announce the results of an analysis of the real estate holdings of the 21st National Assembly members. The data was analyzed based on the total assets reported by 300 members of the 21st National Assembly to the National Election Commission (NEC) at the time of candidate registration.

According to CCEJ, 88 lawmakers (29%) owned two or more houses when combining the properties of themselves and their spouses. Among them, 17 lawmakers (6%) were multi-homeowners with three or more houses. Only 50 lawmakers (17%) were without a house. The average real estate assets per lawmaker, based on the publicly announced land prices reported to the NEC, were 1.35 billion KRW. The total average assets per lawmaker, including real estate and financial assets, were calculated at 2.18 billion KRW.

By political party at the time of candidate registration, the proportion of multi-homeowners was as follows: United Future Party and Future Korea Party (40%, 41 members), Open Democratic Party (33%, 1 member), Democratic Party and Democratic Citizens Party (24%, 43 members), Justice Party (16%, 1 member), and People’s Party (0%). The proportion of lawmakers without a house was: People’s Party (67%, 2 members), Justice Party (33%, 2 members), Democratic Party and Democratic Citizens Party (20%, 36 members), United Future Party and Future Korea Party (9%, 9 members), and Open Democratic Party (0%).

The average real estate assets per lawmaker by party were highest in the United Future Party at 2.08 billion KRW, followed by the Open Democratic Party (1.13 billion KRW), Democratic Party (980 million KRW), People’s Party (810 million KRW), and Justice Party (420 million KRW).

According to the CCEJ survey, the lawmaker with the largest real estate assets was Park Jung of the Democratic Party, with 39.78 billion KRW. Park owns a building in Mapo-gu, Seoul, valued at 38.3 billion KRW based on the reported amount, as well as two apartments in Goyang-si and Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do. The lawmaker with the most houses was Lee Gae-ho of the Democratic Party, who owns five houses in Gwangju and Damyang under his spouse’s name.

Among the top 10 lawmakers with the largest real estate assets, seven belonged to the United Future Party and Future Korea Party, and three belonged to the Democratic Party and Democratic Citizens Party.

CCEJ pointed out, "To prevent conflicts of interest when assigning standing committees in the 21st National Assembly, at minimum, wealthy real estate owners and multi-homeowners should not be assigned to the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee or the Strategy and Finance Committee."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.