The government has submitted a proposal for real estate tax reform to the National Assembly, leading to a heated debate during the National Assembly audit regarding the residency status of one-household, one-home owners and the scope of the reform.
During the audit of the Ministry of Finance by the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee on October 6, Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Hu-deok presented data related to the proposed tax reform, highlighting the residency and non-residency status of one-household, one-home owners.
According to the data provided by Yoon, there are approximately 12 million one-household, one-home owners nationwide, with about 10 million actually residing in their homes. The residency rate stands at 83.4%, while non-residents account for 16.6%, totaling around 1.99 million.
The disparity is even more pronounced in Seoul, where there are about 1.89 million one-household, one-home owners. Of these, 77.7% are residents, while 22.3%, or approximately 420,000, are non-residents. Yoon pointed out that in the Gangnam area, the higher the housing prices, the greater the proportion of non-residents, and that this trend has been increasing annually.
Based on this situation, Yoon questioned whether the government adequately considered the residency status and scale of one-household, one-home owners when preparing the tax reform proposal. He noted that he had repeatedly requested related data from the National Assembly but had not received it, leading him to analyze the data separately.
The scale of those affected by the tax reform proposal also became a point of contention. Yoon explained that high-value property owners could fall under the capital gains tax exemption criteria for one-household, one-home owners. The data indicated that nationwide, this group comprises about 110,000 individuals, with approximately 90,000 in Seoul, representing about 4.9% of all one-household, one-home owners in the city.
In response, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Lee Hyung-il stated, "Since the statistics were estimated based on data, it was difficult to provide them in advance," and added, "We will strengthen our efforts in communication and outreach."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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