37% of 2030s in Gangnam Buy Homes with Gifts and Inheritance
About Twice as Many as Non-Capital Areas
"Hope of Buying a Home through Own Effort Disappears"
About 37% of people in their 20s and 30s who purchased homes in Gangnam during the first half of this year bought them through gifts or inheritance. This figure is double that of non-metropolitan areas. As housing prices soar, making it increasingly difficult for ordinary citizens to own homes, concerns are rising that wealth inheritance is accelerating.
According to an analysis of 1,237,243 funding plans from 2017 to 2021 by Kang Jun-hyun, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, there were 3,423 home purchases by people in their 20s and 30s in the three Gangnam districts of Seoul (Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa) in the first half of this year. Among these, 1,256 cases (36.7%) involved funds from gifts or inheritance.
During the same period, there were 47,275 transactions by people in their 20s and 30s in non-metropolitan areas, but only 8,730 cases (18.5%) involved gifts or inheritance. This means that the proportion of young people in Gangnam, where high-priced homes are concentrated, purchasing homes through gifts or inheritance was about twice as high as that of young people in non-metropolitan areas.
In the three Gangnam districts, the proportion of home purchases by people in their 20s and 30s through gifts or inheritance has been increasing significantly each year. It rose from 0.9% in the first half of 2018 to 19.6% in the first half of 2019, then to 32.3% in the first half of last year, and further increased to 36.7% in the first half of this year.
Assemblyman Kang Jun-hyun pointed out, "The proportion of home purchases through wealth inheritance is steadily increasing," adding, "This trend is particularly strong among people in their 20s and 30s in the three Gangnam districts."
He continued, "The hope that people in their 20s and 30s can buy homes through their own efforts is gradually disappearing."
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