Last Year, Apartment Gifts Exceeded 80,000 Cases... Sejong Increased by 348%

Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Last year, the number of apartment gifts transferred to spouses or children increased in all regions except Gyeongnam and Jeju compared to the previous year.

On the 2nd, Yang Ji-young R&C Research Institute analyzed apartment gift transactions from January to November 2020 using data from the Korea Real Estate Board and found that there were 81,968 transactions nationwide. This represents a 41% increase compared to 58,117 gift transactions during the same period in 2019.

Looking at the 16 metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide, Sejong City had the highest increase in apartment gift transactions compared to the previous year. In 2020, Sejong City recorded 995 apartment gift transactions, a sharp rise of 348% from 222 transactions in 2019.

Following Sejong City was Seoul, where transactions increased by 92%, from 11,187 in 2019 to 21,508 in 2020. Next were Busan with an 87% increase (2,757 → 5,155), Incheon 64% (3,297 → 5,392), Daejeon 63% (1,456 → 2,375), Daegu 55% (3,177 → 4,914), and Chungnam 48% (1,521 → 2,257). The increase rates were higher mainly in the metropolitan area and major cities. The only regions where gifts decreased were Gyeongnam and Jeju. Jeju dropped by 41%, from 376 in 2019 to 223 in 2020, and Gyeongnam decreased by 20%, from 3,223 to 2,592.

In particular, after the June 17 and July 10 measures last year, which increased tax burdens on corporate-owned housing, the number of gifts that had risen in July and August temporarily slowed but then increased again in November. Nationwide apartment gift transactions rose sharply from 6,133 in June 2020 to 14,153 in July and 8,668 in August, then temporarily decreased to 7,299 in September and 6,775 in October, before rising again to 9,619 in November. In Seoul, the numbers were 1,473 in June, 3,362 in July, 2,768 in August, 2,843 in September, and 1,744 in October. In November, transactions increased to 2,400, showing a rise in gift transactions during that month.

Yang Ji-young, head of Yang Ji-young R&C Research Institute, said, "Many multi-homeowners choose gifting over selling due to concerns about capital gains tax and expectations that prices will rise further." She added, "Considering that the government has raised not only property tax but also gift acquisition tax rates, yet gift transactions are increasing, the government needs to consider other tax reductions on transactions to encourage listings in the market."

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