Only 17.7% of owner-occupiers say income is sufficient

Jeonse households also report financial strain at 50.1%

Loan repayments, taxes and rising prices cited as likely factors

Nearly half of household heads who own and live in their homes say their current income is not enough to get by, a new survey shows. Fewer than one in five said they felt financially comfortable.

According to the Ministry of Statistics' 2025 Social Survey released Thursday, 46.7 percent of owner-occupying household heads said their income was insufficient. Of those, 36.5 percent said it was "slightly insufficient" and 10.2 percent said it was "very insufficient."

Apartment complexes in Seoul as seen from Namsan [Yonhap]
Apartment complexes in Seoul as seen from Namsan [Yonhap]

Some 35.6 percent of owner-occupiers said their income was adequate. Only 17.7 percent said they had financial room to spare — 15.7 percent describing themselves as "slightly comfortable" and just 2.0 percent as "very comfortable."

The share of owner-occupiers who feel financially at ease has trended upward from its lows but remains stuck in the teens. The proportion saying their income was sufficient stood at 21.2 percent in 2011, dropped sharply to 10.0 percent in 2013, and has risen gradually since — but still had not recovered to the 2011 level last year.

The financial outlook among jeonse household heads was broadly similar to that of owner-occupiers.

Among jeonse household heads, 50.1 percent said their income was insufficient — 3.4 percentage points higher than among owner-occupiers. The share saying they had financial room to spare was 15.8 percent, or 1.9 percentage points lower than among owner-occupiers.

The survey, however, was based on the type of occupancy arrangement at a respondent's current residence, not on actual property ownership. As a result, household heads living in jeonse arrangements while owning a separate property elsewhere may also have been included in the data.

Analysts suggest that mortgage repayments taken on to purchase a home, along with property-related taxes and rising consumer prices, may be weighing on owner-occupiers' sense of financial comfort.

The sense of financial strain extended across all tenure types. Among all household heads — whether owner-occupiers, jeonse renters or monthly rent tenants — 51.7 percent said their income was insufficient, while only 15.6 percent said they felt financially comfortable.


y2k@heraldcorp.com