It Takes 8 Years to Buy a 'Sudogwon House' by Saving Every Penny of Your Salary Without Spending...

Apartment complexes in the Gangnam-gu area as seen from Daemosan Observatory in Seoul [Image source=Yonhap News]

It was found that it takes an average of 8 years to buy a house in the metropolitan area without spending a single penny of one's salary. This is an increase of 1.2 years from 6.8 years in 2019. Recently, as apartment prices have surged mainly in the metropolitan area, there is an analysis that it has become even more difficult for ordinary people to 'own a home.'

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced the results of the '2020 Housing Survey' conducted from July to December last year on a sample of 51,000 households, commissioned to the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, on the 13th.

According to the survey results, last year, as house prices and rents rose sharply, both the Price-to-Income Ratio (PIR) for home purchase price relative to annual income and the Rent-to-Income Ratio (RIR) for monthly rent relative to monthly income increased compared to the previous year. PIR means the time it takes to buy a house by saving every penny of one's monthly salary without spending any.

On a nationwide basis, the PIR for owner-occupied households rose to 5.5 times (median) from 5.4 times the previous year, and the RIR for tenant households also increased to 16.6% (median) from 16.1% the previous year. In particular, the PIR in the metropolitan area rose from 6.8 times the previous year to 8.0 times last year. In metropolitan cities, the PIR increased from 5.5 times to 6.0 times during the same period, and in provincial areas, it rose from 3.6 times to 3.9 times.

The number of years required for first-time home ownership also increased from 6.9 years the previous year to 7.7 years last year. Regarding RIR, the metropolitan area decreased from 20.0% to 18.6%, metropolitan cities from 16.3% to 15.1%, and provincial areas remained the same at 12.7%.

The owner-occupancy rate decreased to 57.9% last year from 58.0% the previous year. In the metropolitan area, it dropped from 50.0% to 49.8%, and in metropolitan cities from 60.4% to 60.1%, but in provincial areas, it increased from 68.8% to 69.2%.

The homeownership rate, which is the proportion of households owning a home, decreased nationwide to 60.6% from 61.2% the previous year. Although housing supply is increasing, the diversification of households is interpreted as the cause of the decline in both owner-occupancy and homeownership rates.

The number of households below the minimum housing standard significantly decreased. It had maintained the 5% range since 2014 but dropped to 4.6% last year. The residential area per person increased from 32.9㎡ the previous year to 33.9㎡ last year.

By occupancy type, owner-occupied households lived for 10.6 years, and tenant households for 3.2 years, similar to the previous year. Among newlywed couples, 46.1% of households live in owner-occupied homes, and 75.1% live in apartments. Newlywed couples had a higher rate of 'purchase or subscription of newly built buildings' at 29.8% among homeownership methods compared to general households.

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