South Korea real estate market — prices, rental yield and trend

• Average price: $16,308 / m²
• Gross rental yield: 0.87%
• 12-month price change (USD): 6.9%
• Net rental yield: 0.87%
• Transaction cost: 8.2%
• Price basis: national average

Residential property in South Korea averages $16,308 per square metre, +6.9% in dollar terms over the last twelve months. That makes it the 5th most expensive of the 264 markets in the set. In local currency the same twelve months read +1%; the 5.9-point gap is the exchange rate, not the housing market.

What a buyer pays in South Korea

The $16,308 figure is a national average across all residential property types, which flattens a wide spread — the capital typically runs far above it and small towns far below. Buying costs — transfer tax or stamp duty, notary, registration and agency — come to about 8.2% of the price here. On a 100 m² apartment at the average price that is roughly $133,726 on top of the $1,630,800 purchase price. That is below the 9.5% median across the set, which shortens the time it takes for a purchase to break even.

What it earns

A square metre lets for about $11.9 a month. Against a purchase price of $16,308 per square metre that is 0.9% gross, before tax. Both figures come from the same source and the same period, so you can check the arithmetic yourself. That is the lowest gross yield of the 311 markets we track. Rental income is not taxed, so the net yield is the same 0.9% — a rarity in this set, and a large part of why the market draws foreign money.

How the tax works. Non-resident individual owning ONE Korean home and letting it long term: the rental income is NOT taxable. Legal basis: Income Tax Act (소득세법) Art. 12(2)(b) — housing rental income of a person who owns one house is non-taxable, except where the official assessed value (기준시가) exceeds KRW 1.2bn or the house is located abroad. The National Tax Service ruling 기준-2020-법령해석소득-0076 (3 April 2020) confirms that this exemption applies to non-residents exactly as it does to residents, and that a non-resident's houses located outside Korea are not counted towards the house count. If the condition fails (two or more Korean homes, or assessed value above KRW 1.2bn), rental income is taxed comprehensively under Art. 121(2): progressive 6-45% plus a 10% local surtax, with no personal allowances beyond the taxpayer's own — we deliberately leave the upper bound of the range empty rather than estimate it. Jeonse deposits can create a separate deemed-rent tax base; our reference case is a monthly-rent (wolse) letting. Source: Korean Law Information Center (law.go.kr) statutory text and the NTS ruling, retrieved 2026-09-20.

Who can buy in South Korea

Full ownership; prior permit required in the Seoul capital region. That is the rule a foreign buyer meets first, not legal advice — check the current position locally before you commit.

How this figure is built

The price figure for South Korea is built from asking prices from listings. It was last refreshed on 2026-10-22. We rate our confidence in this market’s data low — treat the figures as indicative and check them before acting. We recompute every market the same way; a figure that fails our checks is suppressed, not guessed.

Sources: globalpropertyguide.com · law.go.kr · casenote.kr · kedglobal.com · api.frankfurter.dev. Snapshot: 2026-10-22.