With housing their being so cheap, what the hell is the problem anyway? It's impossible to have expensive real estate in a country that's dying out fast.

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timoshishi 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Housing is incredibly expensive. Roughly half of Korea lives and works in the Seoul metro area. The average salary is roughly 40,000 USD and the average apartment (maybe 84 square meters) is over 1 million USD.

Government efforts to cool housing inflation have resulted in a 40 percent minimum down payment for a mortgage.

Housing in Seoul and much of Gyeonggi is a pipe dream for most

	▲	anovikov an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Well it's their problem if everyone wants to live in the capital. Perhaps it's another manifestation of people being deeply irrational.

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Barrin92 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>It's impossible to have expensive real estate

no it's very possible because in an aging country people relocate to a handful of cities. 50% of South Korea's population now lives in the Seoul metropolitan area. The real estate that's getting cheaper is the one decaying in the countryside.

It's like saying Russia can't have expensive real estate because the country is big, what matters is where people are actually moving.

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SturgeonsLaw 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Cities in Australia consistently rank in the top 5 most expensive real estate indices and we ain't short of space here, it's just not many people are interested in living in a dusty Outback desert.

And for many, if the property is not within 10km of the Sydney or Melbourne city centre, it might as well be in the dusty Outback desert.

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apparent 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I'd think Starlink will help change this. Not for living in the actual dusty Outback (which has its own risks/dangers/inconveniences), but for living in many other places in Australia that are lovely and not too far from desirable areas.

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atwrk 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Most people want to live where other people live, for reasons ranging from social connections to access to services and infrastructure. I doubt broadband access access plays even a small role.

	▲	apparent an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah, like I said, not talking about the boonies. There are plenty of lovely places that are >10km from those two cities, but which are still close enough to services and infrastructure.

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anovikov an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

But indeed Moscow is one of the cheapest cities to buy housing in Europe... On par with poorer East European capitals and second-tier Central European cities.

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oefrha 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Huh? According to https://seoulhomes.kr/en/properties/prices/, in Q1 2026, the average apartment in Seoul sells for ~₩1.2B, ~₩45M per 3.3sqm, that's ~840k USD and ~9.6k USD per sqm or ~900 USD per sqft, in what world is that cheap?

Population can age fast while the supply of desirable places to live still doesn't meet demand.