"Higher Than New York": The More You Own, the More You Pay? Looking at Property Taxes

A research study has shown that South Korea operates a steep progressive property tax structure where property taxes surge dramatically compared to other countries as individuals own multiple high-value homes.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government commissioned a research study comparing property taxes for equivalent-priced housing across six cities: Seoul, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, London, and Singapore. The results revealed that Seoul's progressive tax structure is relatively strong.

According to the findings, for a single home occupied by the owner priced at 1.05 billion won, which is the median apartment price in Seoul, the annual property tax was calculated at 1.07 million won.

This is because the official appraised price falls short of the 1.2 billion won basic deduction threshold for comprehensive real estate holding tax exemptions for single-home owners, resulting in only property tax being levied.

The lowest was Singapore, which applies lower tax rates to owner-occupied homes, amounting to just 580,000 won.

Seoul followed, while Los Angeles recorded the highest at 8.07 million won, approximately 7.5 times the level in Seoul.

The property tax burden relative to income showed a similar pattern.

In Seoul, an individual earning the median income of 65 million won and residing in a single median-priced home faced a property tax burden of 1.6 percent of their income. In contrast, in New York, an individual earning a median income of 149,000 dollars—about 210 million won in Korean currency—residing in a single median-priced home was found to pay 7.4 percent of their income in property taxes.

On the other hand, the situation differed when individuals owned multiple homes.

Holding three apartments valued at 2.3 billion won each, placing them in the top 10 percent of apartment prices in Seoul, resulted in an annual property tax of 48.54 million won.

Among the six cities compared under the same conditions, this was the second highest, following Los Angeles at 53.81 million won.

New York was lower than Seoul at 39.59 million won, and Singapore stood at 23.56 million won, less than half of Seoul's figure.

The research team analyzed that in the case of Seoul, the comprehensive real estate holding tax is levied by aggregating the official appraised prices of owned homes, and the progressive taxation structure—where tax rates increase as the tax base rises—amplifies the tax burden for owners of multiple high-priced properties.

(Reported by Kim Jiuk | Video by Lee Yujin | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.