Housing in South Korea includes

detached houses A single-family detached home, also called a single-detached dwelling, single-family residence (SFR) or separate house is a free-standing residential building. It is defined in opposition to a multi-family residential dwelling. Definitions ...

apartment An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

(unit of apartment, row houses, and private houses), studio apartments, and

dormitories A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm), also known as a hall of residence, a residence hall (often abbreviated to halls), or a hostel, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential qu ...

in non-residential buildings such as shopping malls and factories. While the occupancy rate of apartment houses is steadily rising, the occupancy rate of detached houses is steadily falling. Traditional Korean Houses

Hanok A (; name in South Korea) or ''chosŏnjip'' (; name in North Korea and for Koreans in Yanbian, China), is a traditional Korean house. were first designed and built in the 14th century during the Joseon dynasty. Korean architecture conside ...

is wooden house consisting of

ondol (; , ; ) or ''gudeul'' (; ) in Korean traditional architecture is underfloor heating that uses direct heat transfer from wood smoke to heat the underside of a thick masonry floor. In modern usage, it refers to any type of underfloor heating, or ...

, maru, bueok, and

madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. History Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai was probably the first Eur ...

. Depending on the roof material, there are several types of hanok, such as giwajip, chogajip, gulpijip, cheongseokjip, and neowajip. Most of them, Giwajip were owned by wealthy and high-ranking people.

Chungjeong Apartment Chungjeong Apartment () is a historic residential apartment complex in Seodaemun District, Seoul, South Korea. Built in 1937 during the 1910–1945 Japanese colonial period, it was the first apartment complex in Korea to be built using reinforced ...

is among the oldest extant apartment buildings in South Korea, having been built during 1937. It was decided in 2022 that the building would be demolished.

Housing statistics

South Korea's housing market grew as

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

interest rates An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, ...

were cut at the beginning of the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. During this period, many prospective homeowners sought loans at lower interest rates to buy homes. Since then, rising central bank interest rates have led to a noticeable downturn in the housing market.

Yoon Suk Yeol Yoon Suk Yeol (; born 18 December 1960) is a South Korean politician and former prosecutor who served as the 13th president of South Korea from 2022 until Impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol, he was removed from office in 2025. The shortest-serving ...

's new government entered 2022 and achieved some stability in housing prices in the first month of the following year, but the problem has intensified due to its economic feasibility and the occurrence of a

jeonse ( ; ; ), also known as ''chŏnse'', key money deposit or key money, is a type of lease or deposit common in the South Korean real estate market. Instead of paying monthly rent, a renter will make a lump-sum deposit on a rental space, at anywh ...

frauds case.

Interior

Ondol

The ondol is a traditional Korean

floor heating Underfloor heating and cooling is a form of central heating and cooling that achieves indoor climate control for thermal comfort using hydronic or electrical heating elements embedded in a floor. Heating is achieved by conduction, radiation and ...

system that has been around for thousands of years. Korea's complex system of ondol is unique and well-preserved. Most modern buildings and houses in South Korea still use heating methods similar to ondol. Today, hot water pipes are installed underneath the floors.

Home ownership rate

Among South Korean household heads in their 70s, about 70 percent owned a home in 2021, followed by those in their 60s with about 68 percent. The overall homeownership rate in 2021 was 56.2 percent.{{Cite web , title=Home ownership rate in South Korea in 2021, by age , url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1010588/south-korea-home-ownership-rate-by-age-of-householder/ , website=

Statista Statista (styled in all lower case) is a German online platform that specializes in data gathering and visualization. In addition to publicly available third-party data, Statista also provides exclusive data via the platform, which is collect ...

Housing statistics

Interior

Ondol

Home ownership rate

See also

References