Share of Multi-Home Owners Falls to Lowest Level in 7 Years and 9 Months

The share of 'multi-home owners' holding multiple houses has hit its lowest level in 7 years and 9 months. The ownership structure of the housing market is changing. In statistical terms, multi-home owners holding two or more units in collective buildings accounted for 16 percent, while about 84 percent were single-home owners.

Tax policy changes played a role in the decline. Worried about heavier property holding taxes, multi-home owners sold off properties or gifted them to their children ahead of the reinstatement of the capital gains tax surcharge for multiple homes in May.

At a large apartment complex with more than 3,000 households in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, units put up for sale by multi-home owners sold one after another, making such listings hard to find on the ground. A local real estate agent said, "Everyone buying and selling right now is a genuine end-user," adding, "Nobody is buying to hold onto something." With more listings hitting the market, transactions have also increased.

As multi-home owners dwindle and more homeowners actually live in their own homes, the number of units available to renters keeps shrinking. Even in complexes with more than 1,000 households, jeonse listings are down to just one or two, and such supply-scarce complexes are becoming increasingly common. In supply-starved areas like Seoul, even a single rental unit leaving the market pushes prices up. In some areas, jeonse prices have been confirmed to rise by more than 100 million won in just one year.

Kim Je-gyeong, director of Tumi Real Estate Consulting, said, "Strong pressure on multi-home owners has driven out the people who supply rental housing, and jeonse and monthly rents keep climbing." With the fall moving season followed by the winter break, when families move for school districts, more and more tenants are worried about rising rents.