The Bank of Korea said on the 23rd that the net worth of people owning two or more dwellings was found to be more than seven times that of people without a home. Single-home owners also had 4.3 times the net worth of those without a home. The more real estate they owned, the larger their net worth. The Bank of Korea analyzed that this was due to real estate values increasing by a much larger margin than liabilities.
According to the Bank of Korea's Financial Stability Report for the first half of 2026 released on the day, as of the end of March last year, the average net worth of people without a home was 145 million won. Total assets were 220 million won and liabilities were 75 million won. By contrast, the net worth of multiple-home owners was 1.007 billion won, seven times higher than those without a home. Of their 1.35 billion won in assets, 82% (1.116 billion won) was real estate. The net worth of single-home owners was tallied at 536 million won.
The liabilities-to-asset ratio of multiple-home owners was 35.2%, lower than that of people without a home (50.4%). Single-home owners were at 33.6%. Homeowners showed stronger household soundness than non-homeowners. Although their loan amounts were large, the share of liabilities fell as real estate prices rose.
However, multiple-home owners were found to have weaker debt repayment capacity. As the lending rate has risen since 2021, more multiple-home owners have failed to repay their debts. Looking at the debt service ratio (DSR), multiple-home owners were at 33.7%, higher than single-home owners (28.1%) and non-homeowners (23.1%). In effect, multiple-home owners spend 1.01 million won of a 3 million won monthly salary on principal and interest payments.
Among low-income multiple-home owners, the DSR reached 72.9%. That far exceeds the threshold of 40% that financial authorities consider risky. The DSR for low-income single-home owners was also at 56.2%.
In particular, delinquency rates are rising among people with three or more homes. Their delinquency rate, which was 0.2%–0.3% in 2021, jumped to 0.96% in the second quarter of 2024 and 1.71% in the first quarter of 2025. In the first quarter of this year, it was 1.35%. That is far higher than for single-home owners (0.7%) and two-home owners (0.52%).
It was found that 67.3% of the dwellings owned by borrowers with three or more homes are in the Seoul–Gyeonggi–Incheon metropolitan area. The Bank of Korea projected that, as the government has tightened loan regulations on multiple-home owners, sales of real estate in the metropolitan area will likely increase.
Meanwhile, in the metropolitan area, the ratio of rent to monthly income for tenants living on jeonsei or monthly rent stood at 18.4% in 2024. For a household earning 2 million won a month, that means spending 368,000 won on housing costs each month. The figure was 15.2% in major metropolitan cities and 12.7% in other regions. The Bank of Korea assessed, "While the debt repayment burden of non-homeowning households is relatively low, rent burdens, centered on the metropolitan area, are increasing."
The average annual amount of loan interest repayment by non-homeowning households in the metropolitan area surged from 2 million won in 2021 to 3.21 million won last year. This is the result of more households taking out jeonsei and monthly rent loans and unsecured loans to cover living expenses or prepare security deposits. Of the loans taken by people without a home, 97.1% (273.5 trillion won) were financial liabilities.
The Bank of Korea suggested that policy should be applied differently depending on the type of dwelling ownership going forward. The Bank of Korea said, "For non-homeowning households, it is necessary to continue policy support focusing on vulnerable groups," and added, "For owner-occupied single homes with sound financial structures and repayment capacity, maintain access to loans, and for multiple-home households, induce preemptive soundness management and orderly sales of dwellings."