Seoul's apartment complexes are seen from Mount Namsan in central Seoul on Aug. 14. [NEWS1]

Seoul’s apartment complexes are seen from Mount Namsan in central Seoul on Aug. 14. [NEWS1]

 
The number of households in Korea living in rented homes is nearing 10 million, with more than half concentrated in the greater Seoul area. Seoul is the only one of the country’s 17 major administrative regions in which more than half of all households do not own a home, marking two consecutive years of increase.
 
According to housing statistics from Statistics Korea, there were 9,618,474 nonhomeowner households nationwide in 2023, up 77,000 from the previous year. These households accounted for 43.6 percent of Korea’s total 22.07 million households.
 
 
The number of nonhomeowner households surpassed nine million for the first time in 2020 and exceeded 9.5 million just two years later. The data cites housing prices and a growing number of low-income, one-person households among young and older adults as key drivers.
 
Regionally, these households are heavily concentrated in the greater Seoul area. Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon together accounted for 5,060,804 non-home-owning households — more than half the national total. Gyeonggi had the most, with 2,382,950, followed by Seoul with 2,143,249.
 

Workers are seen at a construction site of an apartment complex in Seoul on Aug. 11. [YONHAP]

Workers are seen at a construction site of an apartment complex in Seoul on Aug. 11. [YONHAP]

Apartment complexes and multiunit houses are seen together in Seoul on April 28. [NEWS1]

Apartment complexes and multiunit houses are seen together in Seoul on April 28. [NEWS1]

 
Seoul was the only region where the proportion of non-home-owning households surpassed 50 percent. In 2023, they made up 51.7 percent of all 4,141,659 households in the capital. This share rose from 51.2 percent in 2021 to 51.4 percent in 2022, marking two straight years of increase — a trend not seen in any other province or city.
 
In contrast, the other 16 regions all had non-homeownership rates below 50 percent. Only Ulsan and Gangwon saw an increase in this share in 2023. The remaining areas showed either no change or a decline.
 
Experts attribute Seoul’s high rate to its steep home prices. Driven by persistent investment demand fueled by the “Gangnam invincibility” theory — the belief that real estate prices in the southern Seoul Gangnam area will never fall — property prices in Seoul have undergone repeated cycles of upward pressure. According to a report by the Bank of Korea, home prices in Seoul rose by 16.1 percent between January 2023 and April 2024, while those outside the capital fell by 1.7 percent over the same period.
 
Between 2002 and 2021, Seoul’s home prices increased by 419.42 percent — the highest rate in the country. Data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport shows that from 2018 through June 2023, the top 1,000 homebuyers in Korea collectively purchased 44,260 properties, averaging 44 homes each.
 

Multiunit houses are seen from Lotte World Tower in Songpa District, southern Seoul, on July 6. [YONHAP]

Multiunit houses are seen from Lotte World Tower in Songpa District, southern Seoul, on July 6. [YONHAP]

 
However, household income and assets have not kept pace with these trends. According to the Korea Housing-Finance Corporation, Seoul’s Housing Purchase Affordability Index was 3.0 in 2022 — a sharp drop from 32.5 in 2012. This indicates that in 2012, one in three homes was affordable to a median-income household; by 2022, that number had dropped to just three in 100.
 
In June, the government attempted to cool the Seoul housing market by capping mortgage loan limits in the capital region at 600 million won ($432,000), but critics say the measure has only made it harder for actual homebuyers to purchase property.
 
High housing costs have also spilled over into the rental market. As more working-class families postpone buying homes, increased demand has pushed up rent and deepened regional disparities in rental income.
 
According to the National Tax Service, the national average per capita rental income in 2023 was 17.74 million won, up just 0.3 percent from the previous year. In Seoul, however, the average rose from 24.08 million won to 24.56 million won — a 2 percent increase. Seoul was the only region where per capita rental income exceeded 20 million won.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [[email protected]]