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Wealth concentration at top intensifying as the rich's proportion of real estate assets grows

Published: 16 Apr. 2026, 09:35 Updated: 16 Apr. 2026, 11:13

Seoul apartments are seen from the Lotte Tower in Songpa District, southern Seoul, on April 8. [NEWS1]

A Korean household needed assets of at least 3.48 billion won ($2.36 million) to rank among the country’s top 1 percent last year, underscoring the concentration of wealth at the top.

The cutoff amount rose by 5.5 percent from a year earlier.

Households in this privileged group held an average of 6.08 billion won in net assets and kept 82.9 percent of their wealth in real estate, NH Investment & Securities said Wednesday after releasing its analysis of data from the 2025 Survey of Household Finances and Living Conditions.

The bar was even higher for the very richest households. Entering the top 0.1 percent required net assets of 9.71 billion won, while the thresholds were 1.63 billion won for the top 5 percent and 1.1 billion won for the top 10 percent.

A typical household in the top 1 percent was headed by a 63-year-old and had 2.84 members, according to the study. Nearly three-quarters, or 74.2 percent, lived in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Real estate properties comprised a greater share of their assets than a year earlier.

The share of their financial assets, by contrast, fell to 15.3 percent from the 18.9 percent recorded in 2024.

Their average annual income reached 257.72 million won, up 13.77 million won from 2024.

“The findings show that wealth concentration is intensifying, with asset growth accelerating as households become wealthier,” Kim Jin-woong of NH Investment & Securities said.

“Because gains in financial assets and real estate tend to benefit higher-asset households more strongly, the findings suggest that accumulating investable assets early can be a key path to building wealth.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY PARK YU-MI [[email protected]]