"Ministry of Land to Increase Statistical Samples by 46% Following Criticism of 'Failure to Reflect Rapid Housing Price Surge'"

An Additional 1.542 Billion Won Allocated in Next Year's Budget
Even with Increased Samples, It Does Not Reach Half of KB Kookmin Bank

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] The Korea Appraisal Board will increase the sample size of apartments used in its weekly housing price trend survey from 9,400 households to 13,720 households, an increase of about 46%. This appears to be a response to repeated criticisms that the accuracy was low because it used fewer samples than KB Kookmin Bank, a private institution, despite being a nationally approved statistic.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's budget proposal for next year announced on the 1st, the budget related to the housing price trend survey will increase by 1.542 billion KRW (22.9%) from 6.726 billion KRW this year to 8.268 billion KRW next year. This is the largest increase in the past five years.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will use the increased budget to expand the sample of apartments for the weekly survey. The housing price trend survey conducted by the Ministry through the Korea Appraisal Board consists of three types: weekly survey, monthly survey, and detailed survey. The weekly survey only investigates apartments. Since it investigates and publishes the nationwide apartment price increase rate every week, it has a significant impact on the real estate market.

The weekly survey sample was maintained at 7,004 households from 2016 to 2017, then increased to 7,400 households in 2018, 8,008 households last year, and 9,400 households this year. However, KB Kookmin Bank’s statistics, which are surveyed and announced weekly, have an apartment sample size of about 34,000 households, leading to many opinions that the Korea Appraisal Board’s sample is excessively small.

In fact, the Korea Appraisal Board’s statistics have often been criticized for showing lower figures than KB Kookmin Bank’s statistics, failing to properly reflect the rapid rise in housing prices. Recently, opposition parties and civic groups such as the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) have also pointed out this issue. In particular, when Minister Kim Hyun-mi of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport recently stated that "the housing price increase rate in Seoul is 11%," public opinion arose that the government was distorting the market by relying solely on Korea Appraisal Board statistics.

Even with the sample size increasing by 46.0% to 13,720 households next year, it still falls short of half the sample size of KB Kookmin Bank. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said, "The current level is appropriate for conducting the survey and there is no problem," but added, "There have been criticisms that the sample size is smaller compared to private institutions, so we decided to expand the sample."

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