The number of people who own two or more houses has increased by 140,000 in a year, with the number of those owning five or more houses surpassing 110,000, data by Statistics Korea showed Friday.

Meanwhile, 44.1 percent of households nationwide did not own a house, the data also showed.

According to the home ownership statistics for 2017, a total of 14,964,000 people owned houses as of Nov. 1 last year. Of them 84.5 percent owned one home, while 15.5 percent owned two or more.

The number of multiple home owners has increased by 140,000, with their percentage out of the entire home owners rising by 0.6 percentage points, the highest increase in two years.

The number of multiple home owners has been on a constant rise since relevant statistics started being collected in 2012, with the on-year increase reaching 61,470 in 2013, 27,743 in 2014, and 158,478 in 2015. The hike had slightly dwindled to 100,637 in 2016.

The numbers show that despite the government’s anti-speculation measures last year, the number of multiple home owners has continued to rise.

Statistics Korea, however, noted that the latest data may not have reflected the impact of the real estate measures that were announced on Aug. 2 at the time of the survey, which was in November.

Some 115,000 owned five houses or more, an increase by 6,000 from the previous year. Some 72,000 owned four houses, 272,000 three and 1.66 million two.

Of those owning at least five homes, 37,000 were residing in Seoul, with the most living in Songpa-gu, followed by Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu.

Among those owning at least two homes nationwide, 22.0 percent lived in Gangnam-gu of Seoul, followed by 20.9 percent in Seocho-gu of Seoul, 20.6 percent in Seoguipo in Jeju, 20.3 percent in Sejong City and 20.2 percent on Jongno-gu of Seoul.

The number of female home owners has also continued to rise, with women taking up 43.9 percent of all home owners, up 0.3 percentage points from 2016.

By age, 25.6 percent of all home owners were in their 50s, followed by 24.3 percent in their 40s.

Meanwhile, the data also showed that of the entire 19,674,000 households nationwide, 11 million owned their houses. This meant 44.1 percent or 8,674,000 did not own their homes. It was only a slight decrease from last year.

The ownership rate was higher among those that are older with more members in the household.

Some 71.7 percent of married couples without children owned homes, while 71.0 percent of households with parents and children owned homes. Only 48.3 percent of households with a single parent and children owned their homes.

The average price of a home (based on the declared value as of Jan. 1, this year), the value of homes owned by the top 10 percent of homeowners came at 812 million won, compared to the average 25 million won among the lowest 10 percent. 

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)