00:05Before you sign anything in Korea's property market, the lending numbers just moved against
00:11you. New mortgage lending per borrower fell by the largest amount on record. Buyers in their 30s
00:20now take 43.7% of all new mortgages, also a record. And Seoul saw the sharpest drop in the
00:28country. It's Wednesday, August 26th. Let's look at what's happening in Korea's property market.
00:35Regulators spent the second quarter tightening household lending caps across banks and non-bank
00:40lenders. Loan sizes shrank, but the buyers who still qualified did not leave the market. The Bank
00:47of Korea's quarterly borrower data shows who absorbed the squeeze. Here's what the numbers show. 208.29
00:55million won, about $147,000, was the average new mortgage per borrower in the second quarter,
01:03down 21.1 million won from the first quarter and the steepest quarterly fall since the series began
01:10in 2013. Borrowers in their 30s took 43.7% of new mortgages, up 2.3 percentage points to a
01:20record,
01:20with their average outstanding balance rising to 234.19 million won. Seoul's average new mortgage
01:28fell 60.65 million won, and the wider capital region fell 43.97 million won, while the Honam and
01:38Tegu-Jungbuk regions posted increases. Incheon designated six pioneer redevelopment districts,
01:44covering 16,267 homes, and set the rights assessment date immediately to block unit splitting.
01:52The ruling party's Finance Committee whip is pushing a single ownership tax deduction of either
01:58$1.2 billion or $1.4 billion won for one-home owners against the government plan of $1.4 billion
02:06for
02:06residents and $900 million for non-residents. The National Tax Service opened audits of 50 companies
02:13over 1.9 trillion won, roughly $1.3 billion, in suspected evasion tied to corporate-owned luxury
02:21homes. So what does this mean for buyers weighing a purchase this year? Earlier, we said Seoul saw the
02:27sharpest drop in the country. Here's what that actually means for you. The same apartment now
02:33requires roughly 60 million won more equity than it did three months ago. And that gap is a cash
02:39requirement, not a price discount. The Bank of Korea expects new lending to rebound in the third
02:45quarter, as the August 13 measures raise volume caps and group loans for new developments come
02:50through. The Bank of Korea rate decision lands on August 27. The ownership tax deduction is still open
02:57in the National Assembly, including the proposed rise in the annual tax burden cap from 150 to 200%.
03:05The Bujon to Masan rail line opens in part on April 1 next year, with full opening targeted for late
03:112028. That's today's AI Prism, real estate. This episode was produced with AI assistance based on
03:18Seoul Economic Daily reporting and reviewed by a human editor. AI Prism is a Juan Ifra award-winning
03:24series. We'll be back tomorrow. You've been listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
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