Minors Under 10 Years Old Purchased 552 Houses Worth 104.7 Billion Won Over 4 Years

Assemblyman Kim Hoe-jae, Analysis of Ministry of Land's Housing Fund Procurement Plans
454 out of 552 cases (82%) purchased homes for 'rental purposes'
0-year-old buys a 2.49 billion KRW house... also finds tenants

It has been revealed that minors under the age of 10 purchased housing worth 104.7 billion KRW over four years. Critics point out that asset disparities are widening from the starting line due to real estate speculation through the 'family chance.'

According to an analysis of the 'Housing Fund Procurement Plan Data' submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Kim Hoe-jae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, since September 2017, minors under 10 years old have purchased 552 houses worth 104.7 billion KRW over four years.

Among these, 454 cases, accounting for 82% of the total 552, were purchases made for 'rental purposes.'

By age, 8-year-olds purchased 86 houses worth 18.25 billion KRW, the highest amount spent on housing. This was followed by 9-year-olds with 79 houses worth 18.19 billion KRW, and 7-year-olds with 69 houses worth 12.88 billion KRW.

For newborns aged 0, there were 11 housing purchases amounting to 2.51 billion KRW.

Most housing buyers under 10 years old financed their purchases through gap investment and gifts.

Cases where housing funds were procured through rental deposit succession, i.e., gap investment, accounted for 368 cases, or 66.7% of the total.

There were also 330 cases (59.8%) where funds were received as gifts.

Many cases suspected of illicit gifting were also found. In 2018, A, born in 2018 (then 0 years old), and B, born in 1984, jointly purchased a house worth 2.49 billion KRW in Seoul. Both provided 970 million KRW each from their own savings and added a rental deposit of 550 million KRW to purchase the house.

This means that A, who was less than a year old, had 970 million KRW in savings and jointly purchased a house worth 2.49 billion KRW.

In 2021, C, born in 2021 (0 years old), purchased a house worth 2.64 billion KRW in Gyeonggi Province together with three others, financing the purchase through gifts and rental deposits.

According to the housing move-in plan, C stated an intention to move into the house personally while simultaneously renting it out to procure rental deposits as housing funds. Critics argue that it is unreasonable for a 0-year-old child to find tenants to live together in the house where they reside.

Representative Kim emphasized, "To resolve the unfair real estate unearned income, we must address the asset inequality caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Strengthening verification of illicit gifting to minors and strict responses such as tax investigations are necessary, and a separate real estate supervisory body should be promptly established to eradicate illicit gifting and illegal speculation."