韓國租屋 只付押金不繳租金
摘錄自：天下雜誌 經濟學人電子報 2014/2/28
2014-02-21 Web
only 作者：經濟學人
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| 圖片來源：flickr.com/photos/un_photo |
/南韓擁有名為「傳貰」的特殊租屋系統，房客不必每月繳交租金，而是向房東提供一筆錢，通常為房產價值的四分之一至二分之一，供房東在租屋期間投資。房東可以保留投資的報酬，並在租期結束後歸還房客的儲金。
南韓的平均儲金已經連續上升76個月，為史上最長紀錄。首爾的傳貰儲金額現在最高可達房屋價值的9成，有時，傳貰談成後房價下跌，甚至會讓儲金額超過房屋的價值。
房客和房東曾經非常支持傳貰系統。1960年代，快速都市化將農民拉往繁華的城市，在資金流往工業發展之時增加了住房需求。政府認為不動產沒有生產力，因此限制銀行向開發商、房東及房客的放款，傳貰這種「自助資金系統」亦應運而生。
房客的儲金為房東的不動產提供免息融資，同時也促使租屋者存款，長期下來，這筆儲金就會成為他們的購屋基金。不過，利率及不動產價格自2008年即不斷下降，房東為了賺取優渥的投資報酬，亦提高了傳貰的價格，房客常得靠低利貸款才能補足缺口。南韓央行指出，2009年至今，這類借款增加了近1倍，從33.5兆韓元增至60兆韓元。
這侵蝕了傳貰系統的主要優勢之一。過去，房客得擁有大筆現金存款，因而限制了房價升幅，有助避免南韓房市泡沫化；由於買家已經擁有大筆現金，亦有助避免房市暴跌。此系統還能保護了銀行系統，讓銀行不必面對高風險房貸。傳貰儲金一直被視作個人間的交易，並未計入南韓家庭債務統計，也沒有算入平均貸款估值比率。但專家認為，房東持有的儲金必須視作債務；據估計，約莫半數儲金（約300兆韓元）用於購買第二、第三間不動產。要是計入家庭貸款，平均貸款估值比率將從不到50％（規範上限）升至75％以上。南韓央行去年11月預估，可能有十分之一的房東難以歸還房客的儲金。
越多越多房東選擇收取月租，去年有40％這麼做，2012年則為34％。不過，部分房東不願完全放棄傳貰；南韓央行指出，超過四分之一房東是靠傳貰清償房貸。這些房東通常會讓房客以月租金代替調升儲金；南韓獨有的混合系統正在生根。（黃維德譯）
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
The Economist
South Korea's housing market
Lumping it
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published:
February 21, 2014
Feb 15th 2014 |
SEOUL | From the print edition
Landlords are
having to ditch a century-old rental system.
MOST South Korean
urbanites would leap at the chance to part with $150,000 to rent a smallish
flat for three years in Seoul, the capital. These days, however, most Korean
landlords would spurn such a measly deposit.
Korea's unusual
rental system, known as jeonse, does not involve monthly rental payments.
Instead, tenants provide landlords with a deposit, typically between a quarter
and half of the property's value, to invest for the duration of the lease.
Property owners keep the returns and then repay the lump sum at the end of the
tenancy.
Average deposits
have now risen for 76 consecutive weeks in Korea, the longest streak ever.
Thousands of jeonse leases in the capital are now as high as 90% of the value
of the house; they sometimes exceed it in areas where property prices have
fallen since leases were agreed.
The jeonse system
was once prized by both tenants and landlords. In the 1960s rapid urbanisation
drew farmers to Korea's thriving cities, boosting demand for homes at a time
when capital was being mobilised for state-led industrial development. The
government thought property unproductive, so restricted banks from lending to
developers, homeowners and tenants, says Son Jae-young, a professor of real
estate at Konkuk University in Seoul. In response jeonse emerged as a
"self-help funding mechanism".
Tenants' deposits
financed landlords' properties, interest-free, while pushing renters to pool
savings: over time, the deposit would become their own home-purchase fund. For
decades, monthly rental was synonymous with poverty.
Yet interest rates
and property prices have sunk since 2008. To earn a decent return on their
investments, landlords have been raising jeonse prices. Tenants have tended to
take out low-interest loans to cover the hike. Since 2009 such borrowing has
almost doubled, from 33.5 trillion won ($31.5 billion) to 60 trillion won,
according to the Bank of Korea, the central bank.
That undermines
one of the main advantages of this unusual system. Previously the large cash
deposits that tenants had to build up helped shelter the Korean property market
from bubbles, by restraining price increases, and from busts, by providing
buyers with ready pots of cash. It also helped protect the banking system from
losses on risky mortgages. Long considered a deal between individuals, the
deposits are still not included in Korea's household debt statistics, nor in
calculations of average loan-to-value (LTV) ratios. Central bank data on jeonse
loans only go back to 2009. But Sun Dae-in, the author of a recent book on
Korea's housing market, says the deposits held by landlords must be seen as
debts. He estimates that about half of all jeonse money (about 300 trillion
won) is used to finance a second or third property. If added to housing loans,
the average LTV ratio would jump from just under 50% (the regulated limit) to
over 75%. Last November the Bank of Korea estimated that a tenth of Korea's 3.7m
jeonse landlords may find it hard to repay tenants' deposits.
Already more
landlords are choosing to rent their properties for a monthly fee: 40% did so
last year, up from 34% in 2012. But some homeowners would rather not ditch
jeonse entirely: more than a quarter are using its hefty sums to pay off a
mortgage on the rented property, according to the Bank of Korea. They often
offer tenants the option to substitute a monthly payment for an increase in the
deposit. A hybrid system, still unique to Korea, is taking root.
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
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