30,000 Minor Home Purchases Over 5 Years Totaling 520 Billion Won

3,294 Minor Landlords, Rental Income of 58 Billion Won
Ando Geol: "Thorough Investigation Needed on Illegal Inheritance and Gifts"

Ando-geol Assemblyman

Over the past five years (2019?2023), the number of housing purchases made by minors in South Korea totaled 2,964 cases, with the purchase amount reaching 519.8 billion KRW.

According to data on the "Status of Housing and Building Purchases by Minors" submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Ahn Do-gul, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Gwangju Dongnam-eul) on the 17th, it took an average of 175.34 million KRW for a minor to purchase one house, with an average of 593 houses purchased annually over the past five years. Considering the buyers are minors, it is presumed that a significant number of these houses are owned by their parents or transferred through gifts or inheritance.

Analysis of the data shows that over the past five years and six months (2019 to June 2024), the top 100 minors purchased a cumulative total of 535 houses, with a total purchase amount of 67.098 billion KRW. Among the top 100 minors by number of housing purchases, 10 children under the age of 10 bought 90 houses for 8.855 billion KRW. Teenagers numbered 65, purchasing 339 houses for 43.512 billion KRW, while 25 individuals who were minors at the time of purchase but are now in their twenties bought 106 houses for 14.731 billion KRW.

Among teenagers, who had the highest number of housing purchases, the top two buyers each purchased 22 houses, with purchase amounts of 2.37 billion KRW and 1.333 billion KRW, respectively. During the same period, 11 minors purchased more than 10 houses each.

As of the first half of this year, the number and amount of housing purchases by minors have been declining compared to the previous year. This is believed to be due to a slowdown in real estate prices, leading to reduced transactions.

The number of minor landlords has been increasing annually. According to data on the "Status of Real Estate Rental Income of Minors" submitted by the National Tax Service, as of 2022, 3,294 minors earned rental income totaling 57.993 billion KRW, averaging 17.6 million KRW per person. The number of minor landlords increased by 452 (15.9%) from 2,842 in 2019 to 3,294 in 2022. This indicates a steady rise in minors earning unearned income through real estate.

Representative Ahn stated, "It appears that multi-homeowners are purchasing houses under the names of their minor children or transferring wealth through gifts or inheritance," and emphasized, "The National Tax Service needs to thoroughly investigate whether there has been any tax evasion or illicit gifting and inheritance during these transactions."

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