6 out 10 Koreans view housing a home

Aug 03, 2020, 09:11 am

AsiaToday reporter Lee Jang-won

A new poll shows that six out of 10 South Koreans view a house as a ‘dwelling’ place, while only two out of ten people see it as an’ investment target’. While it is necessary for the government to set up regulations to stabilize housing prices and stem speculation, it needs to focus its policy direction in supplying houses that people actually want to live.

Besides, nearly half of people are pessimistic about the three bills on leasing and renting homes, which were pushed by the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the government on July 30 to stabilize the nation’s jeonse and monthly rent market, according to the poll.

The public opinion poll on real estate issues was conducted from Jul. 31 to Aug. 1 by a survey agency R&Search on behalf of AsiaToday. It surveyed 1,015 people aged 18 or over. It has a 95 percent confidence level with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The result has much to teach us as the government and the ruling party is expected to announce another package of measures this week to supply more homes to stabilize the real estate market, while the National Assembly is expected to review three real estate bills, including revisions on the comprehensive real estate holding tax, corporate tax, and income tax.

Above all, 59.8 percent of respondents said that they “want to live” in a house, showing their perception of housing as a “home.” On the other hand, 24.4 percent said they “want to buy” a house, indicating they consider housing an “investment target.” Specifically, 48.6 percent of respondents considered a house as a “dwelling place.” However, nearly 4 out of 10 respondents considered a house as their “asset.” Specifically, 24.6 percent of respondents viewed a house as “the most important asset,” 9.6 percent as “saving for retirement,” and 5.4 percent as “a mean to increase property.”

Regarding the three bills on housing lease and rentals that the Moon Jae-in administration and the ruling DP approved at the National Assembly on July 30 in a unilateral manner to stabilize the jeonse and monthly rent market, more than half of people (51.3 percent) said the bills wouldn’t help stabilize the market. Only 37.1 percent said the bills would help stabilize the market.

As the government and the ruling party is expected to announce housing supply measures this week, 36.4 percent said the most urgent policy to stabilize the market is “expanding long-term public rental housing supply.” “Expansion of loan support for housing purchase” with 16.7 percent, “Reinforcing property tax for house” with 14.1 percent, “Increasing floor area ratio” with 9.4 percent, and “Expansion of loan support for jeonse fund” with 7.1 percent followed. On the real estate policy, 58 percent said the the Moon administration was “making a mistake” in carrying out the policy.

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