It was found that small business tenant operators pay an average of 1.12 million won per month for their commercial spaces.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Small Enterprise and Market Service said on the 17th that they released a report titled "2025 survey on commercial building lease conditions" containing these findings.
The agencies surveyed 7,000 small business tenants that had set up in commercial buildings last year across seven industries, including manufacturing, restaurants and retail, as well as 1,000 individuals and corporations that leased business sites to them. The survey was conducted through in-person interviews.
According to the report, the average monthly rent paid by tenants was 1.12 million won, about 120,000 won lower than in 2023, the previous survey.
By region, Seoul was the most expensive at 1.58 million won. ▲ Incheon (1.29 million won) ▲ Daegu (1.27 million won) ▲ Gyeonggi (1.26 million won) ▲ Jeju (1.19 million won) followed. The regions with the lowest average monthly rent were ▲ South Jeolla (490,000 won) ▲ North Jeolla (570,000 won) ▲ South Chungcheong (720,000 won).
The average lease term was 42.2 months, 1.4 months longer than in the previous survey, and the deposit rose from 30.1 million won to 33.13 million won. In contrast, the contracted area decreased from 127.7㎡ to 99.1㎡.
Among tenants, 10.7% said they had "received a request from the landlord to raise the deposit or monthly rent." As for when the increase was requested, "at renewal" was 83.0% and "during the contract period" was 18.7%. Also, 1.2% of tenants had experienced a dispute with the landlord, and 46.0% cited "repairs" as the reason.
The share who said they had received key money while operating their business sites was 3.8%, and 19.0% said they had not. A total of 77.2% said there had been no situation to receive key money. As for why they failed to recoup key money, 34.2% said it was because they could not find a new tenant due to the landlord's excessive rent hike. Their average monthly utility payments, including electricity, gas and water, were 270,000 won, and the average monthly common area maintenance fee was 50,000 won.
It was also found that store owners' finances are not as ample as before. The number of stores for which participating landlords signed lease contracts during 2024 averaged 6.4, down from 8.6 in the previous survey.
Their total annual rental income from the stores they owned fell from 186 million won in the previous survey to 168 million won. By income bracket, it was ▲ 100 million won or more (27.5%) ▲ less than 10 million won (20.5%) ▲ 10 million–30 million won (20.2%) ▲ 50 million–100 million won (18.5%) ▲ 30 million–50 million won (13.4%).
By region, Seoul was the largest at 283 million won. ▲ North Jeolla (180 million won) ▲ Gwangju (178 million won) ▲ Busan (172 million won) ▲ Incheon (163 million won) followed. The lowest rental income was in ▲ Jeju (19 million won) ▲ Gangwon (30 million won) ▲ South Chungcheong (39 million won).
Since 2018, 17.5% of tenants exercised their right to request a contract renewal, and the proportion of respondents who said they accepted the request was 90.3%. Among landlords, 14.8% asked tenants to raise the deposit or monthly rent, and the timing of the increase request was most commonly "at renewal" at 98.0%.
Meanwhile, 5.4% of landlords said they had received a request from tenants to cut the rent. The timing of the reduction request was "at renewal" at 62.3% and "during the contract period" at 39.5%. The grounds cited by tenants for reduction requests were led by "poor sales and worsening management" at 73.8%. When asked the level requested for deposit reductions, the average was 23.4% for deposits and 16.8% for monthly rent.
In the past five years, 1.1% of landlords said they had conflicts with tenants. The reasons cited were ▲ repairs (73.3%) ▲ return of the deposit upon contract termination (30.2%) ▲ increases or decreases in monthly rent and deposits (26.2%).
A total of 21.7% of landlords felt that the Commercial Building Lease Protection Act excessively restricts landlords' decision-making rights (private autonomy). The share who felt private autonomy is excessively restricted was 55.9%, and respondents said the "cap on rent increases" most infringes on private autonomy.