[Economy 365]

The average price difference between homes owned and actually occupied by the top and bottom 20 percent of households by assets has exceeded 290 times.

According to the Korea National Statistical Office, the average price of owner-occupied housing for the bottom 20 percent of households by assets last year was 2.39 million won, the lowest since statistics began in 2017.

On the other hand, the top 20 percent stood at 693.41 million won, the second highest on record.

As a result, the gap between the two brackets widened to a record 290.1 times.

However, this statistic only counts homes that are owned and actually lived in.

This means homeless households, as well as homeowners living in rented housing elsewhere, are counted as zero won, and even multi-home owners only have the single property they actually reside in reflected.

Another factor pulling down the average price is that only 6.6 percent of the bottom 20 percent own the home they live in.

Total assets including owner-occupied housing also widened to a record gap of 68.6 times, with the bottom 20 percent holding 25.88 million won and the top 20 percent holding 1.77615 billion won.

The gap in current income stood at 11.2 times and disposable income at 9.8 times, showing a significant difference from the wealth gap.

*This article was produced with AI audio.