Average Korean income rises, but so did household debt

Average household assets in Korea shrank for the first time since 2012. Pictured are apartment complexes seen from Namsan Mountain in Seoul. [YONHAP]

Income rose for the average Korean household this year, but so did household debt, as people borrowed money to buy homes and cover living expenses. Average household assets shrank for the first time since 2012, influenced by a frigid housing market.

The average Korean household held 527.27 million won ($399,000) worth of assets as of end-March this year, down 3.7 percent from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea shown Thursday.

The income of an average Korean household rose 4.5 percent on year to 67.62 million won, including 43.90 million won from earned income and 12.06 million won from business revenue.

The Statistics Korea data also showed that the average Korean household owes more than 90 million won to banks and other financial companies this year.

Average household debt was tallied at 91.86 million won as of end-March this year, up 0.2 percent from a year earlier.

Of the total, 72.9 percent, or 66.94 million won, was loans taken out from financial institutions, down 1.3 percentage points from last year. The rest was in home rental deposits that must be paid back down the line.

Their ratio of debt to assets reached 17.4 percent in 2023, up 0.7 percentage points from a year earlier.

The data showed that 17 percent of families were headed by retired householders, who quit their jobs at the age of 62.7 on average, while 58.4 percent of them said they were short of money to earn a living.

The joint survey was carried out with the Bank of Korea and the Financial Supervisory Service on 20,000 households across the country from March 31 to April 17.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]