Korea's per capita household net assets up 9% in 2025

Korea's per capita household net assets rose more than 9 percent from a year earlier on higher housing and securities prices, the central bank data showed Wednesday.

The average value of net assets held by households per capita stood at 274.7 million won ($185,600) last year, up 9.1 percent from the previous year, according to the national balance sheet from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The figure was calculated by dividing the total assets of households and nonprofit organizations — 14,200 trillion won — by the country's population of 51.6 million, according to the BOK.

It marked a sharp acceleration from the 3 percent growth tallied in 2024.

"Last year, Korea's main bourse and overseas stock markets were bullish, contributing to the gains," a BOK spokesperson said. "Housing prices also rose, leading to an asset increase."

The BOK said the latest figure translates into $193,000 when applying the average exchange rate for 2025.

At the end of 2024, the figure for the United States stood at $514,000, followed by Australia, Canada and Germany at $422,000, $297,000 and $267,000, respectively. Japan's figure came to $172,000.

The average household net assets came to 634.3 million won, up 7.9 percent over the cited period.

Korea's total national net worth, meanwhile, reached 24.6 quadrillion won at the end of 2025, up 2.2 percent from a year earlier. The growth slowed from a 5 percent rise posted in 2024.

Nonfinancial assets, such as land and housing, came to 23.3 quadrillion won, up 3.8 percent from a year earlier, on the back of higher property prices.

The combined value of property assets in the country came to 17.8 quadrillion won, up 4.1 percent from the previous year.

Net financial assets, on the other hand, fell 20.4 percent to 1.3 quadrillion won.

The BOK said that while financial assets rose 11.4 percent to 2.8 quadrillion won, debt increased at a faster pace, rising 13.6 percent to 3.1 quadrillion won.

By sector, households and nonprofit organizations held the largest amount of net assets, worth 14.2 quadrillion won, followed by the government with 6.2 quadrillion won, nonfinancial corporations with 3.7 quadrillion won and financial corporations with 510 trillion won.

Yonhap