By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter

The number of households subject to progressive comprehensive real estate taxes doubled to around 380,000 this year due to rises in housing prices set by the government.

According to the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, the government-assessed standard prices for apartments this year rose 22.8 percent from a year ago, reflecting the price hike last year. The government price is standard for punitive comprehensive real estate taxes aimed to curb down housing price hikes.

It used to reflect around 70 percent of the market value of houses, but the government moderated it to be closer to the actual market prices, reflecting 80 percent of the real price.

The standard price hike will bring heavy tax burden on owners of high-priced homes. Comprehensive real estate tax is levied in December on those who own homes worth more than 600 million won and lands valued at over 300 million won in total.

The number of real-estate rich households reached 381,000, up 149,000 from a year ago. Each will be paying around 3.2 million won as the comprehensive real estate tax on average.

Those 232,000 households who already paid the tax last year will pay 4.7 million won on average this year, an over two-fold increase from a year ago at 2.1 million won. The remaining 149,000 households who are subject to the tax this year will pay 800,000 won tax on average, according to the ministry.

For instance, an owner of a 34-pyong Eunma Apartment in Daechi-dong, Southern Seoul, will pay 5.8 million won in tax this year, up 168 percent from the previous year.

The tax income for the government is expected to reach 1.2 trillion won.

Households subject to the tax represent only 4 percent of the total households that have homes, the ministry said. Among those subject to the tax, 63.5 percent had two or more homes. It showed geometrical imbalance as well, as 94 percent of them were in the metropolitan area.

The number of expensive houses and apartments worth over 600 million won recorded 300,711, up 90 percent from a year ago.

Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee's residence in Itaewon-dong, central Seoul, was the most expensive one among the 10.3 million homes in the country. The government's official value on the house was 9.1 billion won, up 7.3 percent from a year ago, and the tax for this house is expected to be 157 million won.

His two other houses in Jangchung-dong and Itaewon-dong ranked as third and fourth, respectively, following the residence of Chosun Ilbo President Bang Sang-hoon in Hugseog-dong, Seoul.

The rising tax burden and the price cap on new apartments scheduled for September may push down housing prices further, according to market analysts. The government has also suppressed the demand side by strictly regulating mortgages.

Multiple homeowners have been putting their homes up for sale to avoid the expensive tax, but there are few transactions as potential buyers expect home prices to fall even further.

chizpizza@koreatimes.co.kr