As of last year about 100,000 owned five homes or more in South Korea, subject to tougher taxes from authorities, government data showed. About a quarter of Koreans were homeowners.

According to data released by Statistics Korea on Friday, the number of owners with five or more homes totaled 108,826 as of Nov. 1, 2016. Of them, 36,707 resided in Seoul.

Multiple landlords numbered most in Songpa in southern Seoul where redevelopment is active with 5,215 owning five or more. In posh southern Seoul neighborhoods Gangnam and Seocho, there were 3,615 and 2,619, respectively.

The number of Koreans who own four houses totaled 63,311, home owners with three units 243,787, and those with two units 1,563,860.

Single homeowners totaled 11,332,000 to take up 85 percent of total population with their homes. The share of two or more homes was 14.9 percent.

Multi-homeowners have grown in recent years, riding on cheap and easy loans and eased regulation as the former administration aimed to boost domestic demand through real estate market activity.

Gangnam had the highest portion of home-rich residents with 21.3 percent followed by Seocho with 21.0 percent. At county-level, Yeonggwang in Jeollanam-do Province recorded the highest 25.9 percent.

The new government introduced a series of measures aimed at multiple homeowners by restricting loan extensions and upping taxes to tame speculative activities in real estate market and rises in household debt.

By Lee Yu-sup and Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]