Last year, the number of households in their 30s without dwellings in Seoul hit an all-time high. Only one out of four household heads in their 30s was a homeowner.
According to the Housing Ownership Statistics from the National Data Office (formerly Statistics Korea) and the Korean Statistical Information Service on the 24th, households in their 30s (household head basis) without dwellings living in Seoul totaled 527,729 last year. That was an increase of 17,215 from the previous year and the highest since related statistics began in 2015. The number of households in their 30s without dwellings in Seoul fell from 475,606 in 2015 to 456,461 in 2018, then rose for six straight years starting the following year.
In contrast, households owning dwellings were at a record low. Last year, households in their 30s in Seoul that owned dwellings numbered 183,456, down 7,893 from the previous year, the lowest on record. As marriages are delayed and single-person households increase, soaring home prices in Seoul, supply shortages, and tighter lending regulations appear to have made it difficult for young workers to buy their first home.
The dwelling ownership rate also fell. Among households in their 30s in Seoul last year, the dwelling ownership rate, meaning the share of households that own dwellings, was 25.8%. It was 33.3% in 2015 but fell to the 25% range over 10 years.
Young people see buying a home as necessary for housing stability and asset building. According to a report published last month by the Land and Housing Research Institute, in a survey of 700 single-person, non-homeowning young adults nationwide aged 19 to 39 conducted in Aug.–Sep. last year, 83.2% of respondents said that "it is necessary to buy a home in the future."
As the most needed support policies for stabilizing youth housing, "support for funds to purchase dwellings" (24.3%) and "support for jeonse funds" (22.3%) were cited most, followed by "supply of public rental dwellings" (18.6%) and "supply of public sale dwellings" (14.4%).