[Anchor]
It is Monday, and we have reporter Han Jiyeon here for "Friendly Economy." Han, it looks like the real estate tax reform proposals will be coming out soon.
[Reporter]
They are expected to be released early next month.
Looking at the details, the government is expected to levy taxes based on home values rather than the number of properties owned.
Currently, owning a single home valued at 3 billion won might result in lower taxes than owning three homes valued at 1 billion won each, but this is the part they plan to fix.
Right now, the Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax rate varies depending on the number of homes owned.
For up to two homes, the tax rate ranges from 0.5% to 2.7%, but for three or more homes, it rises from 0.5% to 5%.
It was created to collect more from owners of multiple properties, but because the tax base is calculated by adding up the values of all owned homes while the tax rate is applied separately depending on whether you own two or fewer homes or three or more, a reverse phenomenon occurs where someone with three or more homes pays more tax even if the total value is the same.
In fact, looking at individuals whose total home values were between 3 billion and 5 billion won last year, those who owned three or more homes paid about 42 million won more per person than single-home owners.
As a result, criticisms have continued that this is unfair.
The government is also reviewing this direction, so it is highly likely that in the future, regardless of how many homes someone owns, similar home values will result in similar taxes.
[Anchor]
What other plans are being reviewed?
[Reporter]
Currently, taxation applies to everyone once the basic deduction threshold is exceeded.
Moving forward, the government is reviewing a plan to divide this into medium-burden and ultra-high-priced categories, creating a total of three differentiated groups.
Right now, single-home owners receive deductions up to 1.2 billion won, and multi-home owners up to 900 million won, with everything above that subject to taxation.
However, what the government is reviewing is dividing above this deduction line into two more groups.
For homes between the basic deduction line and the ultra-high-priced threshold—meaning moderately priced homes—the current level will be maintained or taxes will increase only very slightly.
Once a property goes above the ultra-high-priced threshold, the plan is to divide the tax base brackets more densely or raise the tax rates themselves.
The ultra-high-priced threshold is being strongly discussed between a market value of 3 billion and 5 billion won.
This figure was introduced as a reviewable standard by First Vice Minister of Finance and Economy Lee Hyung-il at a discussion on the 23rd.
President Lee Jae-myung has also previously stated in the same direction that burdens will be eased for actual residents and ordinary citizens or the middle class, while burdens will be incrementally increased for luxury homes, multiple properties, and speculative holdings.
Therefore, it can be said that what this reform is directly targeting is ultimately ultra-high-priced single "competent" homes.
[Anchor]
The stance of raising holding taxes on high-priced homes seems clear.
[Reporter]
That is correct. Looking at the tax credits for single-home owners with properties worth 2 billion won or more, the amount rose to 46.1 billion won last year in 2025.
This marked a four-year high.
Consequently, the government is reviewing a reorganization of the deduction system centered on actual residency.
Originally, this deduction system was created to consider retired elderly demographics.
The intent was to prevent elderly single-home owners who have houses but lack income from having to sell their homes due to tax burdens.
For households with a single home that have owned the property for five years or more, or where the owner is over 60 years old, the Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax is discounted by up to 80%.
Until now, however, whether the owner actually resided there was not taken into account.
It was originally designed this way to protect cases where people could not live in the houses directly due to circumstances, such as being in a nursing facility or staying at a child's house.
With recent rises in housing prices, single-home properties with a tax base exceeding 2 billion won have increased significantly.
In terms of market value, these are apartments around the 6.5 billion won range and detached houses around the 8.4 billion won range.
The tax credits attached to these properties alone amounted to 46.1 billion won.
This is a 153% increase from 18.2 billion won the previous year, marking the largest scale in four years.
The actual tax paid by these individuals—meaning the average determined tax amount per person—was 55.7 million won, a decrease of 16.81 million won or 23.2% compared to the previous year.
On the other hand, for those with a tax base of 2 billion won or less, the average was 1.59 million won, showing almost no difference from a year ago.
Based on these statistics, the government stated it is reviewing plans to overhaul this deduction system focusing on actual residency.
However, long-term owners with circumstances such as nursing care or co-residence may also face reduced deductions, so backlash is anticipated.
That said, the basic deduction amounts, ultra-high-priced thresholds, and deduction reform methods have not been fully finalized yet, and will be finalized as a tax law amendment early next month following a discussion presided over by the Prime Minister today.
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