Real Estate in Korea

April 16, 2007 in Real Estate

 

Alright, by no means will this be the most expert posting about Real Estate in South Korea, but it will be the first attempt at exploring a pretty interesting system in how people secure “housing” in Korea.  Unlike in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, mortgages are less familiar when purchasing homes & people typically have larger sums of money to either purchase the apartments, which are almost your standard form of housing, or to rent a unit in one of the many apartment buildings found throughout the country. 

However, the country is changing towards having home loans as well as there are more affordable places for people to rent in even the most expensive cities of Korea, including some of the ritziest or most expensive districts in Seoul.  I, personally, have lived in ”Kangnam”, known for its’ expensive real estate for 550,000 won a month, which equates to about $550-600 a month in US dollars.  The big difference to western standards, however, was that I put also 5,000,000 won down for key money (about a little over $5,000) .  Also, the unit was quite small.  I think it was either 10 or 12 pyung which is about 118 to 142 sq ft.  I don’t think it’s really this small, but the kitchen was definitely about 6-8 feet long and 3 feet deep, the room was about a total of 15 feet in and possibly 8-10 feet wide…so maybe it was these dimensions.  Anyway, it was quite modern & near Nambu Bus Terminal in Kangnam.  It was about a 10 min walk to either subway station. 

A decent primer on Real Estate is found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_estate_in_South_Korea