Multi-homeowners Sweep Up 3.4 Trillion Won Worth of Homes Under 300 Million Won... "20s Also Snatch Up 1.3 Trillion Won"

Real estate stock photo / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Tae-min] Over the past three and a half years, more than 80,000 multi-homeowners have "swept up" local low-priced houses with official prices under 300 million KRW, totaling 34 trillion KRW. Concerns are rising that speculation on local low-priced housing could become rampant as the Yoon Seok-yeol administration introduces related tax benefits.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and analyzed by Kim Hoe-jae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, as of the 23rd, the number of buyers who purchased two or more houses priced at 300 million KRW or less outside the metropolitan area from January 2019 to the end of June this year was counted at 78,459.

The local low-priced houses with official prices under 300 million KRW purchased by these buyers amounted to 211,389 units, totaling 33.6194 trillion KRW. It is analyzed that multi-homeowners who bought two or more houses were the main force sweeping up local low-priced houses priced at 300 million KRW or less.

By age group, multi-homeowners who purchased two or more local low-priced houses bought the most in their 40s with 63,931 units (1.06645 trillion KRW). This was followed by those in their 50s with 55,601 units (813.93 billion KRW) and those aged 60 and above with 44,598 units (633.3 billion KRW). Even those under their 20s, who relatively lack self-capital, purchased 8,882 units of local low-priced houses, totaling 1.3531 trillion KRW.

There are concerns that if the Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s tax law amendment, which excludes local houses priced under 300 million KRW from being counted as housing units when calculating capital gains tax and comprehensive real estate tax and abolishes the multi-homeowner heavy tax rate, is passed, this tendency of multi-homeowners to sweep up local low-priced houses will intensify further.

Assemblyman Kim Hoe-jae stated, “The Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s tax cuts for multi-homeowners ultimately turn local low-priced houses into prey for speculative forces.” He added, “When outsiders come into the region, sweep up houses, raise house prices, and then engage in ‘ant shaking’ (selling off to small investors), the ones who suffer are the actual residents who have their homes in the area.” He emphasized, “We must withdraw the tax policy focused solely on tax cuts for the wealthy and carefully create policies that can secure housing stability for the people.”

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