'All Remedies Ineffective'... Despite Regulations, 2.32 Million Multi-Homeowners Last Year 'Record High'

Statistics Korea Housing Ownership Statistics... Number of Owners with 2 or More Houses Increases by 36,000 Compared to Previous Year

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Despite the government’s release of high-intensity regulations targeting multi-homeowners, the number of multi-homeowners owning two or more houses last year reached an all-time high.

According to the 2020 Housing Ownership Statistics announced by Statistics Korea on the 16th, as of November 1st last year, the number of housing owners was 14,697,000, an increase of 361,000 (2.5%) compared to the previous year. The number of people owning two or more houses was 2,320,000, up 36,000 (1.5%) from 2,284,000 the previous year. This is the highest number since related statistics began being compiled in 2012.

Although the Moon Jae-in administration introduced several real estate measures, the number of multi-homeowners owning two or more houses has shown an increasing trend from 2,119,000 in 2017 to last year. However, the proportion of multi-homeowners among all housing owners slightly decreased from 15.9% to 15.8%.

Not only did the number of multi-homeowners increase, but the number of households without any housing also rose. Among 20,926,710 general households last year, 9,196,539 households (43.9%) were without housing. This is an increase of 309,617 households (3.4%) compared to 8,886,922 households the previous year. This is the first time since the statistics began in 2015 that the number of households without housing exceeded 9 million.

Looking at households without housing by region, Seoul had 2,054,216 such households, an increase of 52,702 households (2.6%) from the previous year. The proportion of households without housing in Seoul’s total households (3,982,290) exceeded half at 51.6%. Gyeonggi-do and Busan had 2,255,684 and 595,657 households respectively, increasing by 93,447 and 18,323 households compared to the previous year.

Regarding the housing asset value by decile of households owning houses, the average housing asset value of the 10th decile (top 10%) was 1.309 billion KRW. The average number of houses owned was 2.43. The average housing asset value of the 1st decile (bottom 10%) was only 28 million KRW, with an average of 0.97 houses owned.

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