Episode 46: Wait, What Did You Jeonse? (Housing)

Korean. American. Podcast

This week Jun and Daniel discuss the housing payment system of jeonse (전세), or key money deposit, that is unique to South Korea amongst all OECD countries. Roughly 50% of renters in Korea are living with a jeonse, and in 2022 the average jeonse price in Seoul was $500,000. For the first few months after moving to Korea, Daniel had to ask almost every Korean person he met about the jeonse system, because of how foreign and unsustainable it seemed. What is a jeonse, and how does it work? What are some other aspects of the Korean real estate ecosystem that work together with jeonse? How do Koreans and Americans think differently about real estate, at a very fundamental level? How do Koreans manage to get such a high deposit amount? What is appealing about this system to Koreans? What are the other options available to renters besides jeonse? What does the day of look like when Koreans move into a jeonse? What role do real estate agents play in Korea? Is there an equivalent to the escrow system that exists in America? What is an important factor in real estate investing that isn’t important in the US? What are the cracks that are beginning to appear in the jeonse system in particular, and the overall Korean real estate ecosystem more broadly?
If you're interested in any of these questions, tune in to hear Daniel and Jun discuss all this and more! Also in this episode, Daniel and Jun discuss where in Seoul they would want to move, if they were to move out of their current city.
Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeonse

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1. [Ad] Edges and Echoes (00:17:11)

2. (Cont.) Episode 46: Wait, What Did You Jeonse? (Housing) (00:17:12)