NH report shows property dominates portfolios as threshold rises 5.5%
A South Korean household needs net assets of about 3.5 billion won ($2.6 million) to rank among the top 1 percent, a report showed Wednesday.
According to the “THE100 Report” by NH Investment & Securities’ 100-Year Life Research Center, the cutoff stood at 3.48 billion won as of March 2025, up 5.5 percent from 3.3 billion won a year earlier.
Top 1 percent households had an average net worth of 6.08 billion won, with a household head aged 63 on average and 2.84 members per household. More than 74 percent were based in the greater Seoul area.
Their total assets averaged 6.74 billion won, up about 11 percent on-year. Real estate accounted for 82.9 percent of assets, rising from 79.2 percent, while financial assets fell to 15.3 percent from 18.9 percent.
Nearly 80 percent of these households carried debt, with average liabilities of about 834 million won among borrowers.
Annual income averaged 257.7 million won, up 5.6 percent, with earned income accounting for 44.4 percent — still the largest share.
Households yet to retire expect to do so at age 70 and estimate monthly living costs at 5.87 million won. In contrast, retirees reported an average retirement age of 62.7 and actual monthly spending of about 4.7 million won.
The report said while wealth is inherently relative, the data offers a benchmark for long-term asset planning.
jylee@heraldcorp.com
