As of February this year, 60% of successful applicants for apartment subscriptions nationwide were in their 30s or younger.
On the 13th, Real Today, a real estate research firm, analyzed age-specific subscription winner data from the Korea Real Estate Board (REB) (based on general sale complexes) and found that, among 7,365 successful applicants nationwide in January–February this year, 4,507 were in their 30s or younger. That is 61.2% of all winners.
This is the highest figure since February 2020, when the real estate board began compiling the statistics. The share of winners in their 30s or younger had stayed between 46.5% and 58.7% for January–February over the past six years.
The higher share of winners in their 30s or younger appears to reflect the combined effects of policy preferences for young people and increased supply of small-size units. To address unstable housing for young adults and low birthrates, policy loan products available to those in their 30s or younger have been expanded. The "Stepping-stone loan for first-time homebuyers" (first-time buyer preference), "purchase funds for newlyweds," and the "special stepping-stone loan for newborns," among others, target young adults.
Another reason is that the "priority supply for newborns" system (priority allocation to households with births within the special supply for newlyweds and first-time buyers), introduced in Mar. 2024, has taken hold in the market. As the government increased the odds of winning for households with births in special supply, those in their 30s or younger have applied more actively, leading to more winners.
There is also analysis that, as the share of supply of small-size units with a lower aggregates burden in total sale prices has increased, wins among young adults—who mainly target small-size units—have expanded.
Koo Ja-min, a researcher at Real Today, said, "Those in their 30s or younger, who can use low-interest policy loans as a lever, are pursuing home purchases through subscriptions more actively than before."