South Korea Is Raising Taxes on Wealthy Homeowners—Can It Finally Cool Seoul’s Housing Market?
South Korea is preparing another major attempt to cool its overheated housing market. AI gernerated image The government has proposed increasing the tax burden on owners of multiple homes and expensive properties while offering more favorable treatment to people who own and live in a single home. The message is politically powerful: housing should be a place to live, not merely an investment asset. But South Korea has tried variations of this approach before. Taxes have been raised, lending rules have been tightened, speculative districts have been designated and new housing projects have been announced. Yet apartment prices in Seoul have repeatedly recovered after temporary slowdowns. The latest tax proposal therefore raises a larger question: Can higher taxes finally stabilize Seoul’s housing market—or will they treat the symptoms without changing the structure that keeps pushing demand toward the capital? What is South Korea proposing? The proposed tax changes would inc...