Housing costs went up in 2018 as cold waves in January and the summer heat forced households to spend more on electricity and gas. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Mar. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Growth of South Korea’s housing-related outlays reached a five-year high in 2018 due mainly to severe cold waves and scorching heat, central bank data showed Monday.
Local households spent 148.4 trillion won (US$131 billion) on heating, water use and rent last year, up 4.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The figure represented the highest on-year increase since 2013, when housing costs rose by the same rate.
The main culprits were last year’s sweltering heat and extreme cold that sent household electricity consumption to a record high, the BOK said.
“Housing costs went up in 2018 as cold waves in January and the summer heat forced households to spend more on electricity and gas,” a BOK official said.
However, rent didn’t have a great impact on housing-related expenditures, he added.
Last year, “jeonse,” long-term deposits on leased homes, rose 1.4 percent on-year, the lowest annual gain since 2006. Monthly rent fell 0.3 percent on-year, the first on-year drop since 2006.
Analysts said increased housing-related outlays could make households spend less on other items, making a dent in their overall purchasing power.
The government needs to cut electricity rates temporarily or reduce oil taxes to help households cut back on their costs of living, they added.
(Yonhap)
