South Korea’s government and ruling party have agreed in principle to broaden the circumstances in which a single-home owner can be treated as meeting residency requirements even when they are not physically living in the property. The move is aimed at people who have unavoidable reasons for living elsewhere and comes amid a wider review of housing taxation and supply policy.
At a high-level party-government meeting on August 23, officials said there was shared support for recognizing a wider range of unavoidable non-residency situations. The ruling party has also pressed the government to reconsider distinctions between resident and non-resident single-home owners in the comprehensive real-estate holding tax system. The debate matters because residency status can affect deductions, tax burdens and the way policy distinguishes owner-occupiers from other property holders.
The agreement does not yet settle every detail. The government still needs to define which circumstances qualify and how any revised treatment will interact with broader property-tax changes. For households affected by work, family or other unavoidable relocation, the final wording will determine whether the reform meaningfully reduces the risk of being treated like an investor despite owning only one home.