Rich People Resigned to Stagnant Real Estate Market
09 February, 2019
Most of Korea's rich people expect the real estate market to stagnate for the next five years as new anti-speculation measures bite, a straw poll suggests.
The conclusion comes from a survey by Hana Bank of 922 private-banking clients who own W13.3 billion in assets between them and earn an average W450 million a year (US$1=W1,126).
Half of their assets consist of real estate. Over 90 percent of them admitted they bought real estate as an investment, and on average they own 1.85 properties.
Some 34 percent projected a moderate slowdown across the country and 11 percent a rapid decline, while 39 percent expect prices to remain flat and only 15 percent expect a steady rise.
But in Seoul, only 29 percent forecast real estate prices to suffer a real slump, while 21 percent projected a steady recovery and four percent a rapid recovery. For the rest of the country, pessimism stood at around 80 percent.
Respondents also said they spend an average of W12.26 million a month, 3.7 times higher than the average Korean household's W3.32 million. Rich clients in their 70s spent the most at W13.16 million a month.
Hana Bank attributed the spending pattern to "a rapidly graying society and a rising number of economically active senior citizens, resulting in a greater range of cultural and social activities they can take part in."
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