There are two rate tables for the comprehensive real estate tax — one for two houses or fewer, one for three or more. That is where “the heavy rate starts at three” comes from. Put them side by side, though, and the top three bands are identical, in both the rate and the running base. They part at a taxable base of KRW 1.2bn.
1. The two tables are the same up to a base of KRW 1.2bn. Same rates (0.5, 0.7 and 1%), same running base — below that line the number of houses does not change the tax at all.
2. So the heavy rate really starts at a published price of KRW 2.9bn for anyone other than a single-house household — and at KRW 3.2bn for a single-house household, whose deduction is larger.
3. Past that line it widens fast. At a published price of KRW 4bn: 17,215,200 won against 22,759,200 won, a gap of 5,544,000 won (example).
The two tables side by side
By the rates alone, three or more looks far heavier — the top band is 2.7% against 5%, nearly double. And yet the bottom three bands match. That is not a coincidence; it is how the article is written.
| Taxable base | Two or fewer | Three or more |
|---|---|---|
| up to 300m | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| 300m to 600m | 1.5m + 0.7% of the excess | 1.5m + 0.7% of the excess |
| 600m to 1.2bn | 3.6m + 1% of the excess | 3.6m + 1% of the excess |
| 1.2bn to 2.5bn | 9.6m + 1.3% of the excess | 9.6m + 2% of the excess |
| 2.5bn to 5bn | 26.5m + 1.5% of the excess | 35.6m + 3% of the excess |
| 5bn to 9.4bn | 64m + 2% of the excess | 110.6m + 4% of the excess |
| over 9.4bn | 152m + 2.7% of the excess | 286.6m + 5% of the excess |
Note that the running base on the 1.2bn line is 9.6m in both tables. Only the rate parts, 1.3% against 2%. At a base of exactly 1.2bn both tables give 9.6m, and the gap opens from there.
It is worth noticing that the tables are written as “running base plus rate on the excess”, not as a rate minus a progressive deduction. The two forms give the same answer, but the statute uses the first. The running base is a number worked backwards so the bands join at their edges, so one row copied wrong makes the amount jump at a boundary — the figures here went in only after all seven edges were checked to the won.
The published price where the heavy rate really starts
The rate table is keyed to the taxable base, but the number people know is the published price. Running it backwards:
A base of KRW 1.2bn ÷ 60% plus the deduction. With the KRW 900m deduction that is KRW 2.9bn; with the single-house deduction of KRW 1.2bn it is KRW 3.2bn.
So as long as the combined published price stays at or below KRW 2.9bn, three houses and five houses pay the same. At KRW 2bn: two houses 3,895,200 won, three houses 3,895,200 won — identical (example, no age or holding relief).
More houses usually means a higher combined published price, of course, so “three houses but under KRW 2.9bn in total” is not especially common. It does happen where cheap provincial homes are in the mix — and for that owner, “three houses, so the heavy rate” is simply not true.
How far it widens once it parts
| Combined price | Two or fewer | Three or more |
|---|---|---|
| KRW 2bn | 3,895,200 won | 3,895,200 won |
| KRW 2.9bn | identical up to here | |
| KRW 4bn | 17,215,200 won | 22,759,200 won |
The gap is nothing up to KRW 2.9bn, and 5,544,000 won at KRW 4bn.
All figures include the rural surtax of 20% and the property-tax offset. The age and holding relief applies only to a single-house household, so none is applied here. To try your own numbers, use the comprehensive real estate tax calculator.
What leaves the count — and the two that need a September filing
How the houses are counted for the two-or-fewer / three-or-more split is sent to the Decree by Act art. 9(4), and settled by Decree art. 4-3(3). Its item 3 reads “the following are not included in the house count” and lists six kinds.
There is a difference in the wording. The inherited home, item (b), carries no rider — meet the conditions and it simply drops out. But the new home in a temporary second home, item (d), and the low-priced regional home, item (e), are confined to one “owned by a person treated as a single-house household under Act art. 8(4)(ii) (or (iv))”.
And being treated that way under art. 8(4) has to be applied for between 16 and 30 September under art. 8(5). Without the filing, the home does not leave the rate-table count either. One clause of qualification decides whether a filing is needed.
| What | Conditions | September filing |
|---|---|---|
| Inherited home | Any one of: under 5 years since the death · a share of 40% or less · the share worth 600m or less (300m outside the capital region) | not needed |
| New home in a temporary second home | under 3 years since acquiring it | needed |
| Low-priced regional home | published price of 400m or less and in a listed area | needed |
The conditions sit in Decree art. 4-2. The inherited home needs any one of three (para. 2); the regional home must meet all of its requirements (para. 3) — side by side in the same rule, one door wide and one narrow.
The area test gained a line in the amendment of 27 February 2026 — parts of the capital region outside Seoul that are both a shrinking-population area and a border area (para. 3(ii)(d)). “Capital region means no” is no longer wholly true.
Item (f) is temporary: small new builds acquired between 10 January 2024 and 31 December 2027 (60 square metres or less, costing 600m or less, 300m outside the capital region, and not an apartment), completed but unsold homes acquired to 31 December 2026 (85 square metres or less, 700m or less, outside the capital region), and from 1 January 2026 homes in shrinking-population areas. The detailed tests are long, so only the list appears here.
Questions that remain
When are the houses counted?
As at 1 June, the assessment date. Selling one on 2 June still leaves it in the seller's count for that year.
Does an inherited home count?
If it meets the conditions it drops out of the house count (Decree art. 4-3(3)(iii)(b)) — but not out of the combined published price. It affects only which rate table applies; the base is unchanged.
Quite separately, a person holding one home plus an inherited one is treated as a single-house household under Act art. 8(4)(iii) — and that is where the KRW 1.2bn deduction and the age and holding relief live. The two layers are easy to confuse: the rate-table count and the single-house test are different articles. Conditions and deadlines are in the section just above.
Is there any other difference between two houses and three?
Nothing beyond the rate table was confirmed for this piece. The acquisition tax is built differently — there the designated-area status matters too, which is covered in the acquisition tax calculator.
If the fair-value ratio rises, does this threshold move?
It falls. A smaller published price would be needed to reach a base of KRW 1.2bn. At 80% instead of 60%, the line for a non-single-house owner would be KRW 2.4bn rather than 2.9bn — our own calculation. The Decree currently says 60%.
Is anything else different between two and three homes?
The tax-burden cap is the same. Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax Act art. 10 disregards any part of an individual’s combined property and holding tax on housing above 150% of the previous year’s, with no split by number of homes — the older 300% and 200% multi-home caps were deleted in December 2022 (checked 23 September 2026). Some corporations fall outside the cap (proviso to the same article).
What about past rate changes?
This table is the one effective 1 January 2026. Earlier amendments were not checked for this piece — a year-by-year comparison means opening the article at each effective date separately.
Sources
Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax Act art. 9(1), effective 1 January 2026 (Act No. 21224) — both rate tables. Art. 8(1) for the base and deductions. Art. 8(4) and (5) — the four cases treated as a single-house household, and the 16 to 30 September filing. Art. 9(4) — the house count sent to the Decree.
Enforcement Decree, effective 27 February 2026 — art. 2-4(1) (the 60% fair-value ratio), art. 4-2 (para. 2 the inherited home, para. 3 the low-priced regional home), art. 4-3(3) (the house count for the rate tables, item 3(a) to (f)).
The articles were opened and read directly on the national statute portal. The rate tables are not in the page text, so they were read at magnification band by band, and the running base was checked at all seven band edges to the won. One row of the three-house table was misread first time round, and that check caught it.
KRW 2.9bn and 3.2bn are figures we worked back — they do not appear in the statute. Base KRW 1.2bn ÷ 60% plus the deduction.
Where to check further
Hometax, the simplified comprehensive real estate tax estimate.
The ownership record as at 1 June. That is the date the house count is fixed.
The September filing window for exclusions from the total and from the house count — 16 to 30 September (Act art. 8(5)).
