Property tax fears drive appeals over assessed home values to 5-year high

The number of homeowners formally contesting officially assessed apartment prices surged 7.8-fold in a single year, as a 9.13% average increase in assessed values this year stoked fears of higher property taxes and national health insurance premiums.

Data submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jong-wook of the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee show that appeals against this year's officially assessed apartment prices totaled 6,066 cases. That is up 147.5% from 2,451 cases last year and the highest since 2021, when assessed values surged 19.05% and appeals reached 14,200.

Requests to lower assessed values drove the surge. Downward appeals totaled 4,379 cases this year, accounting for 72.2% of all filings — a 7.8-fold increase from just 561 cases last year. By contrast, requests to raise assessed values fell to 1,687 cases from 1,890 last year.

Appeals against officially assessed apartment prices had been declining — from 4,385 cases in 2023 to 3,650 in 2024 and 2,451 last year — before reversing sharply this year. Analysts attribute the rebound to the nationwide average increase of 9.13% in assessed apartment values.

Officially assessed prices serve as the basis for property taxes, including the comprehensive real estate holding tax, as well as national health insurance premium calculations, basic pension eligibility and more than 60 other administrative systems. A rise in assessed values therefore directly translates into higher taxes and other financial burdens for homeowners.

Resistance was already evident during the public review period held before the final assessment was published. Opinions submitted during this year's review reached 14,561 — 3.5 times the 4,132 filed last year — signaling that much of that early pushback carried over into formal appeals after the final figures were released.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport surveys and calculates officially assessed apartment prices as of Jan. 1 each year, then finalizes them after a public review, a comment period and deliberation by the Central Real Estate Price Disclosure Committee. The ministry plans to publish the final adjusted assessed prices reflecting the outcomes of this year's appeals on June 26.