가구 44%는 무주택…상위 10% 집값은 하위 10%의 32배

Latest Data shows about 55-percent of the nation's households own at least one house.
In other words, more than four out of ten do not own a place to live.
Our Ko Roon-hee help us look beyond the digits.
Data released by Statistics Korea on Friday shows that more than 44% of South Korean households do not own their homes.
As of November 1st 2017, the home ownership rate of households stood at 55-point-9 percent... which marks a 0-point-4 percentage point increase from the previous year.
Breaking it down by city, households in Seoul had the lowest home ownership rate of just 49-point-2 percent.
The report also showed the wide difference in house prices.
Based on the price as of January 1st this year, the average price in the bottom 10-percent of house prices was around 22-thousand dollars.
And the average in the top 10-percent was around 719-thousand U.S. dollars...which is more than 32 times that of the bottom 10-percent.
An economic expert says this is a reflection of the stark differences in living conditions across the nation's housing market.
"Polarization of housing prices means a polarization of residential environments.
To solve this issue, the South Korean government has been working to improve the living conditions or increase the housing supply in areas where lower-priced houses are located. However, I am not sure if this has been that effective."
Meanwhile, to ease the housing problem, the South Korean government announced last August it would build 300-thousand extra homes to curb soaring house prices.
And in September, it revealed the specific housing sites where 35-thousand of these homes would be built.
Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.