Yonhap News Agency

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On November 16, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport released the results of the "2024 Housing Survey," which involved in-person interviews with 61,000 households nationwide in the second half of last year. According to the survey, the median Price Income Ratio (PIR) for homeowners in Seoul last year was 13.9 times their annual income. The PIR represents the number of years it would take to purchase a home if you saved your entire salary without spending any. As of last year, it would take about 14 years of saving your full salary to buy a home in Seoul. The regions with the next highest PIRs were Sejong (8.2 times), Gyeonggi (6.9 times), Daegu (6.7 times), and Incheon (6.6 times).

Last October, real estate sale and lease flyers were posted in an apartment complex in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

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Last year, the median "rent-to-income ratio" (RIR) for tenant households nationwide was 15.8%, the same as the previous year. This means that tenants spent 15.8% of their monthly income on rent. By region, the RIR for tenant households decreased compared to the previous year: in the Seoul metropolitan area from 20.3% to 18.4%, in metropolitan cities from 15.3% to 15.2%, and in provinces from 13.0% to 12.7%.

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The homeownership rate, which refers to the proportion of households that own a home regardless of whether they live in it, rose to 61.4% nationwide last year, up from 60.7% the previous year. By region, the homeownership rate increased in provinces (from 68.6% to 69.4%), metropolitan cities (from 62.3% to 63.5%), and the Seoul metropolitan area (from 55.1% to 55.6%). The self-occupancy rate, which measures the proportion of households living in their own home, was 58.5% nationwide, up from 57.4% the previous year. The self-occupancy rate also increased in provinces (from 65.4% to 66.5%), metropolitan cities (from 58.9% to 60.0%), and the Seoul metropolitan area (from 51.9% to 52.7%). Last year, 58.4% of households owned their home, while 38.0% were tenants.

Jamsil Apartment.

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The average time it takes to purchase a first home after becoming the head of a household was 7.9 years, up by two months from the previous year's 7.7 years. The average residential area per person was 36.0 square meters, unchanged from the previous year. By region, the average area was largest in provinces (40.2 square meters), followed by metropolitan cities (36.7 square meters), and the Seoul metropolitan area (33.0 square meters). The average residential area per household decreased slightly from 68.9 square meters in 2023 to 68.1 square meters last year. The proportion of households below the minimum housing standard under the Housing Act increased by 0.2 percentage points to 3.8%, up from 3.6% the previous year.

Compared to the previous year, both housing satisfaction (from 3.01 to 3.03 points) and satisfaction with the residential environment (from 2.99 to 3.01 points) increased. The average length of residence in the current home for all households last year was 8.4 years, about five months longer than the previous year. By occupancy type, homeowners lived in their homes for an average of 11.5 years, while tenants stayed for an average of 3.6 years. The proportion of households that had lived in their current home for less than two years was 30.3%, down from 32.2% the previous year.

A survey on attitudes toward homeownership found that 86.8% of respondents believed they should own a home, indicating that most households think homeownership is necessary, although this figure was slightly lower than the previous year's 87.3%. The proportion of households that said they needed support from housing assistance programs was 38.2%, down from 40.6% the previous year. The most needed types of housing support were "support for home purchase loans" (32.0%), "support for Jeonse deposit loans" (27.8%), "monthly rent subsidies" (12.2%), and "supply of long-term public rental housing" (10.9%).

Among young households, 82.6% lived as tenants, and the proportion living in non-residential spaces such as officetels reached 17.9%. Among newlyweds, 43.9% lived in their own homes, with apartments accounting for 73.4% of these. Among elderly households, 75.9% lived in their own homes, and the proportion living in single-family houses was high at 39.2%. When unmarried households were asked about the appropriate housing size for marriage, the average response was an exclusive area of 75.8 square meters, which is larger than the average residential area reported last year (68.1 square meters).