As the number of households without dwellings in the country nears 10 million, it has been found that more than half of these households reside in the metropolitan area. In Seoul, the percentage of households without dwellings has exceeded half and has risen for two consecutive years.
According to the housing ownership statistics from the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS) on the 17th, the number of households without dwellings in the country was recorded at 9,618,474 as of 2023. This is an increase of about 77,000 households compared to the previous year (9,541,100 households), representing 43.6% of the total number of households (22,070,000 households).
Households without dwellings are those where not a single member owns any dwellings. This means they live in rented apartments or homes without ownership.
Households without dwellings exceeded 9.5 million after first surpassing 9 million in 2020. The rising prices of homes, along with an increase in low-income single households among the youth and elderly, are cited as major causes.
By region, the number of households without dwellings in the metropolitan area, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon, exceeded 5,060,804, accounting for more than half of the total. Gyeonggi Province had the highest number at 2,382,950 households, followed by Seoul with 2,143,249 households.
The increase in households without dwellings in Seoul is noticeable. These households make up 51.7% of the total in Seoul (4,141,659 households). Among the 17 provinces, Seoul is the only region where the percentage of households without dwellings exceeds 50%.
The percentage of households without dwellings in Seoul, which was at 51.2% in 2021, recorded 51.4% in 2022, continuing to rise for two consecutive years into 2023. This marks the only instance of such an increase among all provinces over two years.
In contrast, the other 16 provinces have a percentage of households without dwellings below 50%. Compared to the previous year, Ulsan and Gangwon Province were the only regions where the percentage increased in 2023, while others remained stable or showed a decline.
Seoul's higher percentage of households without dwellings and its recent noticeable upward trend are interpreted as the result of the gap in home prices between Seoul and other regions. The phenomenon of rising home prices has been repeating annually due to increasing investment demand in the Seoul area.
According to a report titled 'Characteristics and Implications of the Recent Housing Market' released by the Bank of Korea in June, home prices in the Seoul area increased by 16.1% from January 2023 until April this year. In contrast, home prices in non-metropolitan areas dropped by 1.7% during the same period. From 2002 to 2021, the home price increase rate in the Seoul area was 419.42%, the highest in the country.