333 Houses Purchased by Minors Over 6 Years in Incheon... One Teenager Bought 8 Houses

Assemblyman Heo Jong-sik "Need to Mandate Submission of Minor's Fundraising Plan"

Over the past six years, the number of houses purchased by minors in Incheon has reached 333, with one teenager in particular buying eight houses.

According to data on 'Minors' Housing Purchases in Incheon' submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Heo Jong-sik, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Incheon Dong-gu·Michuhol-gap), from 2018 to August of this year, minors purchased a total of 333 houses in Incheon, with the total purchase amount reaching 44.7 billion KRW. The average purchase price was about 134 million KRW.

By year, the number of houses purchased by minors in Incheon was around 20 to 30 units in 2018-2019, then rose about threefold to 60 units in 2020, and surged to 143 units in 2021, with transactions worth approximately 19.4 billion KRW in that year alone. In 2021, looking at the number of transactions and amounts, Namdong-gu saw 38 houses sold for 4.7265 billion KRW, and Yeonsu-gu had 29 houses sold for about 5.0194 billion KRW.

During the housing price surge in 2021, the 'panic buying' fever extended to minors purchasing houses, and Heo’s office estimated that most of these transactions were made with the help of parents or other family members.

A teenager identified as A purchased eight houses in Michuhol-gu, Namdong-gu, and Bupyeong-gu for about 800 million KRW, becoming the largest homebuyer among minors. A also bought one house each in Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province. Another teenager, B, purchased five houses in Namdong-gu for 550 million KRW. It was also found that two children under the age of 10 bought two houses each in Yeonsu-gu and Namdong-gu for a total of 311 million KRW.

By district, minors’ housing purchases were concentrated in Namdong-gu (87 houses) and Yeonsu-gu (53 houses), followed by Michuhol-gu (46 houses), Seo-gu (44 houses), Bupyeong-gu (42 houses), and Gyeyang-gu (39 houses).

Rep. Heo said, "It appears that multi-homeowners bought houses under minors’ names during the period of rapid house price increases," adding, "It is necessary to thoroughly inspect and prepare for activities that disrupt the housing market, such as making it mandatory to submit a funding plan for transactions involving minors."