Marriage increasingly seen as Korea’s new path to wealth as home prices soar

Marriage is increasingly being viewed as a financial advantage in Korea, with soaring housing prices, dual-income households and government support for newlyweds encouraging more people to abandon the single life.

Many unmarried Koreans say combining incomes and assets through marriage has become one of the few realistic ways to buy a home or build wealth, while some experts say economic considerations are playing a larger role in marriage decisions than in the past.

"Ten years ago, I thought that as long as I had a steady income, I could live comfortably on my own and eventually buy a small apartment within commuting distance if I saved enough and took out a loan," said Kim, a 40-year-old office worker who chose to remain unmarried.

"But things have changed so dramatically that it now feels almost impossible to build wealth or buy a home alone," he said. "Married couples can grow their investment capital together, while housing subscription and mortgage programs are designed more favorably for them."

A similar view was shared by a 30-year-old office worker, surnamed Na, who once planned to remain single.

"When I started working, I saw my married senior colleagues upgrading their homes and building wealth, while many unmarried colleagues either missed the chance to buy property or couldn't afford to," she said. "More than half of the reason I changed my mind about marriage is financial."

An increasing number of people say they now feel they are at a financial disadvantage by remaining single.

"Ten or 20 years ago, both men and women around me generally thought marriage was a losing proposition," Kim said. "People believed it was better to enjoy the present than tie up a large amount of money in real estate whose value might fall after getting married. But expectations that housing prices would decline have completely collapsed, and my friends who got married and struggled to pay off their mortgages ended up coming out ahead."

Against that backdrop, more people in their 30s have begun embracing what they call "wedding leverage" — the idea of accelerating wealth accumulation by combining incomes and savings through marriage and investing in assets such as real estate and stocks.

Some also say they experience FOMO, or fear of missing out, after watching peers who married early accumulate wealth more quickly. Others have come to view remaining single as a financial disadvantage, believing it has become virtually impossible to buy a home or significantly increase one's assets on a single income.

"In addition to emotional comfort and companionship, people are placing greater importance on marriage as a form of economic cooperation," Lim Myung-ho, a psychology professor at Dankook University, said. "Amid rising housing prices and intensifying competition to accumulate wealth, economic considerations have become a major factor in deciding whether to marry."

Real estate assets of married households quadruple that of unmarried households

Government statistics also show a widening wealth gap between married and unmarried households.

Married households held an average of 786.37 million won ($552,000) in assets in 2025, compared to 239.5 million won for unmarried households, according to statistics released in January by the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

Real estate accounted for 568.89 million won, or 72 percent, of married households' average assets, compared to 130.53 million won for unmarried households — less than one-fourth the level of married households.

Although the figures are also influenced by factors such as household size and average age, the wealth gap has nevertheless widened quickly and significantly.

The difference in average household assets grew from 300.71 million won in 2017 to 546.87 million won last year, recording the largest ever. During the same period, assets held by married households increased 65.2 percent, compared to 36.5 percent for unmarried households.

Experts said the gap reflects multiple factors, including dual-income households and sharp increases in real estate prices, despite married households generally having higher living expenses.

The trend has also made some couples who had already decided to marry move up their wedding plans in hopes of building wealth sooner through investment.

"I thought that if we were going to get married anyway, we should do it sooner so we could combine our assets and start building wealth," said Park, a 29-year-old office worker who had originally planned to marry in her mid-30s. "Apartments we casually looked at two years ago have already risen by 200 million to 300 million won, and that has made me increasingly anxious."

“Wedding expenses such as photography, dresses, makeup, banquet meals and rings also continue to rise every year,” she added.

The perception that dual-income married couples enjoy advantages in income, mortgage eligibility and housing subscription programs has also fueled the recent "wedding leverage" trend.

The share of dual-income households among first-marriage couples married for fewer than five years reached a record 59.7 percent last year, according to the ministry's 2024 statistics on newlyweds.

A 2025 consumer finance report published by Hana Bank’s financial research institute also found that married households generally earned higher incomes because of their dual-income structure.

Gov't financial support for newlyweds and families with children

Government policies — tax credits for newly married couples and low-interest policy mortgage programs — have also expanded financial support for newlyweds and families with children, reducing disadvantages associated with marriage.

"As more people see married couples around them benefiting from various support programs while gaining opportunities to build wealth, marriage is increasingly viewed as an economically rational choice that allows households to combine resources and reduce costs," You Hye-mi, a professor at the College of Economics and Finance at Hanyang University, said.

BY LEE AH-MI, KWAK JOO-YOUNG [shin.woojin@joongang.co.kr]