Homeownership rate among Koreans in their 20s and 30s falls below 30% for first time, widening generational gap

The homeownership rate among Koreans in their 20s and 30s fell below 30 percent for the first time since records began last year.

Data from the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS) released Tuesday showed that 27.7 percent of those aged 39 and under owned the home they lived in last year.

That was down 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier and the lowest since the current statistical framework was introduced in 2017.

The figure is 13 percentage points below the peak of 40.7 percent recorded in 2018 and 2019 under the Moon Jae-in administration.

By contrast, the homeownership rate among those in their 50s stood at 63.5 percent, while the rate for those aged 60 and older reached 68.5 percent. Both figures edged down — by 0.6 and 0.4 percentage points, respectively — but the declines were far smaller than those seen among younger Koreans.

The gap in homeownership between those in their 50s and those under 40 widened to 35.8 percentage points, while the gap between those aged 60 and older and those under 40 reached 40.8 percentage points — both the largest on record since 2017.

The divide is growing not only across generations but also across wealth levels.

The homeownership rate among the bottom 20 percent by net assets fell to 6.8 percent last year, the lowest since records began — down roughly 3.5 percentage points from 10.3 percent in 2017 and 10.6 percent in 2018.

The top 20 percent by net assets posted a homeownership rate of 84.2 percent. That was slightly below the 84.5 percent recorded in 2017, though the difference was negligible.

The gap in homeownership between the top and bottom 20 percent by net assets came to 77.4 percentage points, the widest in three years since 79.8 percentage points in 2022.

In terms of residential property values, the average home price for the top net-asset quintile was 686.77 million won ($469,000), or 117.4 times the 5.85 million won average for the bottom quintile.

As the widening wealth and generational divide in asset ownership poses a risk to social stability, calls are growing to ease mortgage lending restrictions targeting young homebuyers with genuine housing needs.

At a public forum on real estate policy held Thursday, a participant who identified herself as a newlywed surnamed Shin said mortgage loan limits are capped at 200 million won, 400 million won or 600 million won depending on the property price. "As someone five years into my career and two years into my marriage, I want to buy a home now based on my future repayment capacity," she said. "I hope these restrictions can be eased for young couples and youth who don't have money."

Kim In-man, director of a real estate economics research institute, also said at the forum that raising loan thresholds and costs to rein in high-end housing prices in areas like Gangnam only increases the housing burden on owner-occupiers and non-homeowners in outlying areas.

People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo wrote on Facebook on Monday that "the core of the real estate problem is loans," adding that "the reality is not that people can't buy homes because there are none, but that they can't buy even when they want to because they can't get a loan."

He said the Lee Jae Myung administration had blocked housing loans through heavy-handed regulation even for those who could afford to repay principal and interest within their means, adding that homes "can now only be bought by those holding cash, recipients of semiconductor performance bonuses, or employees at large conglomerates with in-house loans of about 100 million won or more."

Ahn warned that the public would soon face a "loan moratorium," saying the gap between those who secured loans and those who could not would only widen further.