Total cost of buying a home in Korea
What you need on top of the price. For a first home around KRW 700M the extras are usually about 2% of the price; with multi-home heavy rates they exceed 10%.
How it works
Acquisition tax for a first home is 1% up to KRW 600M, 3% above 900M and slides in between, plus local education tax (10% of the rate) and 0.2% rural special tax on homes over 85㎡. Second homes in regulated areas and third homes pay 8–12%.
The agent fee is the legal cap for the price bracket (0.4% for 200M–900M, 0.5% for 900M–1.2B, 0.6% for 1.2B–1.5B, 0.7% above 1.5B) plus 10% VAT. It can be negotiated down.
At registration you must buy National Housing Bonds worth 1.3–3.1% of the official assessed value (3.1% above 600M in Seoul and metropolitan cities). Almost everyone sells them on the spot, so the real cost is the face value × that day's discount rate.
Stamp tax is KRW 150,000 for prices over 100M up to 1B and 350,000 above 1B (homes up to 100M are exempt). Add the 15,000 registration fee and the legal fee and you have the full picture.
Assumptions
- Purchase by sale; first-time-buyer and newlywed tax reductions not applied
- Agent fee at the legal cap plus 10% VAT (general-status agent)
- If no assessed value is entered, 70% of the price is assumed (apartments typically 60–75%)
- Bond discount rate is whatever you enter — it changes daily
- Mortgage-related costs (lien registration bond, stamp, fees), moving and renovation excluded
- Rates checked 2026-09-21
FAQ
Can foreigners buy a home in Korea, and do they pay more?
Yes, and the taxes and fees are identical to Koreans'. Until 25 Aug 2027, buying a home in all of Seoul, 23 Gyeonggi cities and 9 Incheon districts requires a prior foreigner land-transaction permit, with move-in within 4 months and 2 years of actual residence.
How much extra for a KRW 700M apartment?
First home, 85㎡ or less, Seoul: about 12.8M in acquisition tax and surtaxes, 3.08M agent fee, ~1.5M bond discount loss (12% rate), 150k stamp tax and ~520k registration and legal fees — roughly KRW 18M, or 2.6% of the price.
Do I need a lawyer?
Not a lawyer — a judicial scrivener (법무사) files the ownership registration for about KRW 300k–700k. You can file yourself online, but most foreign buyers use one.
Three worked examples
The share rises with price because the acquisition rate climbs from 1% to 3% between KRW 600M and 900M, and jumps to 8% for a second home in a regulated area. Below KRW 600M the all-in figure is close to 1.8%; at KRW 1B and above it settles near 3.6% for a first home.
| Item | KRW 500M, Busan, first home | KRW 700M, Seoul, first home | KRW 1.5B, Seoul, second home (regulated) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acquisition tax + surtaxes | 5,500,000 | 12,833,333 | 126,000,000 |
| Agent fee (cap + VAT) | 2,200,000 | 3,080,000 | 11,550,000 |
| Housing bond loss (12%) | ≈ 882,000 | ≈ 1,528,800 | ≈ 3,906,000 |
| Stamp tax | 150,000 | 150,000 | 350,000 |
| Registration + legal | ≈ 515,000 | ≈ 515,000 | ≈ 715,000 |
| Total extras | ≈ 9.2M (1.8%) | ≈ 18.1M (2.6%) | ≈ 142.5M (9.5%) |
Where each number comes from
| Cost | Rule | Who receives it | When paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acquisition tax | 1–12% of price (see acquisition-tax calculator) | District office | At closing, via scrivener; legal deadline 60 days |
| Agent fee | Cap by bracket: 0.4% (200M–900M), 0.5%, 0.6%, 0.7%; +10% VAT | Your agent | Closing day |
| National Housing Bond | 1.3–3.1% of official value must be bought; sold same day at a 8–16% discount | Bank (bond) — loss is the real cost | Registration day |
| Stamp tax | 150k (100M–1B), 350k (>1B) | Government (electronic stamp) | Contract or registration |
| Registration fee | 15,000 (e-filing) | Court registry | Registration day |
| Legal fee | 300k–700k, by scrivener's tariff | Judicial scrivener | Registration day |
The housing bond, in plain terms
Every ownership registration requires buying Type-1 National Housing Bonds — a 5-year government bond paying about 1.3% — in proportion to the official assessed value of the home: 2.6% of the value in the KRW 260M–600M band and 3.1% above 600M in Seoul and metropolitan cities (lower rates elsewhere). Nobody keeps them; the scrivener sells them back to the bank the same minute, and the market prices the bond below face value. That discount — quoted daily by the banks, 12–16% through 2026 — is your cost. On a KRW 700M apartment with an assessed value of KRW 490M: bond face 12.74M × 12% ≈ KRW 1.53M.
If you do not know the official value, the calculator assumes 70% of the price, which is the typical apartment ratio; villas and detached homes often sit at 50–60%, which would lower the bond slightly.
What is not in this total
- Mortgage costs: lien registration (about 0.2–0.4% of the lien amount), usually paid by the bank; fire insurance; any loan fee.
- Moving, renovation, and the first month's maintenance deposit for apartments (선수관리비, typically KRW 300k–1M, refunded when you sell).
- Long-term repair reserve handover (장기수선충당금) — the seller usually reimburses the tenant, not the buyer.
- For foreign buyers: translation and notarisation of documents, and the transfer cost of bringing funds into Korea (1–3% of the amount on a bank wire).
Ways to pay less
Negotiate the agent fee — the table is a ceiling, and 0.3% on a KRW 700M apartment saves KRW 770k with VAT. Ask the scrivener for a quote instead of accepting the agent's referral; competition is real and KRW 200k differences are common. Time the closing: taxes attach to the owner on 1 June, so closing on 2 June leaves the year's property tax with the seller. Check first-time-buyer relief (KRW 2M) if you have never owned in Korea.