It was tallied that Korea's household net worth per household broke past 600 million won last year. Despite the government's heavy regulations, real estate prices rose, and the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) surged in a short period. Household net worth is the amount obtained by subtracting financial liabilities such as loans from the total assets a household holds, including real estate and deposits.
According to the "provisional 2025 national balance sheet" released by the Bank of Korea on the 22nd, last year's household and nonprofit net worth was 1,420 trillion won. It increased by 116.7 trillion won (9%) from a year earlier, exceeding the previous year's increase (39.1 trillion won, 3.1%).
Dividing last year's household and nonprofit net worth by the total number of households (22.39 million households), household net worth per household came to 634.27 million won. It rose 7.9% from the prior year (587.61 million won), widening from the previous year's increase (2.1%).
Converted at the average exchange rate, household net worth per household is $446,000. It is higher than Japan ($392,000) as of 2024, for which statistics have not yet been released. As of 2024, Korea ($431,000) also surpassed Japan. Korea ranks after the United States ($1,284,000), Australia ($1,099,000), Canada ($722,000), Germany ($529,000) and France ($503,000).
Household net worth per capita, calculated by dividing household and nonprofit net worth by the population (51.68 million), was 274.75 million won, up 9.1% from a year earlier (251.84 million won). Converted at last year's average exchange rate, it was about $193,000, higher than Japan as of 2024.
Dwellings accounted for 50.4% (716.3 trillion won) of household and nonprofit net worth. Net financial worth was 26.5% (376.7 trillion won), and nonfinancial assets excluding dwellings were 23% (327.0 trillion won).
Of last year's increase in household and nonprofit net worth (116.7 trillion won), dwellings accounted for the largest share at 53.4 trillion won (45.7%). That outstripped the increase in 2024 (24.6 trillion won). It indicates real estate prices rose over the year. A Bank of Korea official said, "After 2020, during COVID-19, real estate rose sharply, and it is rebounding again recently."
In particular, the increase in equity securities and investment funds expanded from minus (-) 1.4 trillion won in 2024 to 52.5 trillion won last year. Over the year, the KOSPI rose 75.6%, outpacing the U.S. S&P 500's gain (16.4%).
National net worth, including households, corporations and the government, was 2,456.1 trillion won, up 53.1 trillion won (2.2%) from the end of the previous year. However, growth slowed compared with the prior year (114.2 trillion won, 5%). This was due to net financial worth falling 32.6 trillion won (20.4%) from a year earlier to 127.1 trillion won. As the domestic KOSPI surged, the share of Korean stocks held by foreigners grew. Domestic stocks held by foreigners are recorded as liabilities.