High-rise apartments are seen from Lotte World Tower in southern Seoul on Nov. 18, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — More South Koreans are being subject to socioeconomic deprivation as the rising cost of housing is hurting expenditures in other sectors, a government think tank said Monday.
The state-funded Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements estimated the cost of housing by studying the cost of purchasing a home for residential purposes, and analyzed how it poses a financial burden to South Koreans.
The results showed that tenant households and those earning less than the minimum cost of living are suffering the most from housing costs.
The financial burden arising from housing costs hurts not only the person’s spending in non-housing sectors but also the person’s perceptions.
The relative inequality between households based on disposable income minus the cost of housing was higher than the relative inequality that existed in disposable income only.
The institute conducted a nationwide survey of 500 household representatives over 20 years of age, in which 41.4 percent believed that housing costs were excessive considering their income level.
Among households that were renting their homes, 68.2 percent thought that housing costs were excessive relative to their income level.
Another 58 percent of respondents said they feel deprived when comparing what they have with other people.
At 72.9 percent, more than two-thirds of of tenant households felt more relatively deprived than homeowners.
Tenant households in the low-income tier, suffering from a relatively higher cost of housing, were subject to high levels of objective and subjective deprivation, the institute said.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
