Housing in Korea

No matter how much people complani about unaffordable housing in the UK, I'm pretty sure that the situation is worse here in Seoul. Read this extract from Brendan Carr's blog.

How far is Korea from the “affordable housing” ideal? St. Louis-area consultant Wendell Cox’s Demographia site is a treasure-trove of information including an index of housing affordability. He published a housing affordability study for 2007, which uses a simple multiple of Median House Price to Median Household Income (the “Median Multiple"). Where average housing prices are three times’ Median Household Income or less, Cox rates housing as “affordable”.

The US market currently has a Median Multiple of 3.7, which implies that the US market is a bit out of whack with US income levels. A Median Multiple between 3.1 and 4.0 is “Moderately Unaffordable”, 4.1 to 5.0 “Seriously Unaffordable”, and 5.1 and above, “Severely Unaffordable”.

Where is Seoul’s housing market in relation to Wendell Cox’s Median Multiple? Remember, this is based on comparing the median cost of housing to the median income of the people who presumably want to buy that housing. According to the Chosun Ilbo last week, the Median Multiple in the city where I live and work is 17.8 for all housing stock, 19.5 for newly-built apartments of the type I am living in. I’m not sure where 19.5 falls on Cox’s scale—“Disastrously Unaffordable”?

I don't suppose we shall be becoming house owners anytime soon...