Money from gifts and inheritances used to buy homes in Seoul reached 4.3181 trillion won ($3.1 billion), rising by 2 trillion won in three months. People in their 30s supplied half of that amount.
More Than 4 Trillion Won in Gifts and Inheritances Went Into Seoul Homes
Gift and inheritance funds used to purchase homes in Seoul climbed to 4.4407 trillion won last year, nearly 5.6 times the 2022 level in the span of three years, according to data from the office of Rep. Kim Jong-yang of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, released on the 6th.
Such funds had plunged from 2.6231 trillion won in 2021 to 795.7 billion won in 2022 as interest rates rose and home prices corrected. They then recovered each year, reaching 1.1503 trillion won in 2023 and 2.2823 trillion won in 2024.
The increase became more pronounced this year. The total rose from 2.337 trillion won in April to 4.3181 trillion won at the end of July, an increase of about 2 trillion won in just three months.
People in their 30s drove that increase. Of the 2.1813 trillion won in gift and inheritance funds used to buy homes in Seoul in the first quarter of this year, according to Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport data, buyers in their 30s accounted for 1.0915 trillion won, or 50.03% of the total. They were followed by those in their 40s at 526.5 billion won, those in their 50s at 229.9 billion won, those 60 and older at 227.8 billion won, and those in their 20s at 103.3 billion won.
The share held by people in their 30s has grown steadily in recent years. It rose from 34.8% in 2023 to 40.9% in 2024 and 43.5% last year. In the first quarter of this year it exceeded half for the first time. That means people in their 30s now make up the largest group among those buying homes in Seoul with help from family.
Buyers in Their 30s Tap Parental Wealth and Financial Assets Alike
For buyers in their 30s, gifts and inheritances were not the only source of funds. In the first quarter of this year, they put 721.1 billion won raised from selling stocks, bonds and cryptocurrency toward home purchases in Seoul, the largest amount of any age group. It was the first time they overtook those in their 40s, who had consistently ranked first in that category.
With access to loans restricted, buyers in their 30s are entering the Seoul housing market by pulling together both assets passed down from their parents and financial assets they accumulated themselves, analysts said.
As reliance on gifts and inheritances grows among people in their 30s, concerns are emerging that wealth gaps between generations could harden into differences in purchasing power for housing. Seoul home prices have risen sharply in recent years, widening the gap between what people in their 30s can raise from wages and savings alone and what an actual purchase requires.
Unlike buyers in their 40s through 60s, many of whom are trading up to a different home, those in their 30s have had less time to build assets and are filling the shortfall in their down payments with parental wealth or financial assets, experts said. That dependence on what Koreans call "parental privilege" is expected to continue for some time.
