As 'jeonse' fades, path to homeownership narrows further in Korea
Kang, an office worker in her 20s, currently rents a studio apartment in Seoul on a monthly lease. During her search for a home, she ruled out Korea’s traditional “jeonse” system — the once-dominant rental arrangement where tenants pay a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent — because of a series of high-profile deposit fraud cases that have undermined trust in the market. “There are also far more monthly rental listings these days, so it’s hard to find a decent jeonse property in the first place,” Kang said. The trade-off is that paying monthly rent leaves little room to build savings for a home of her own. “Even neighborhoods that used to be relatively affordable in Seoul have become so expensive that the difference hardly feels meaningful anymore,” she said. “With monthly lease being my only realistic option, it has become even harder to dream of buying a home.” Jung, a 30-year-old finance professional, had hoped to either secure a jeonse home or buy an apartment with her fiancé. Instead, the couple has widened their search to include monthly rentals a
