South Korea is expected to lower a taxation rate on home purchases regardless of multiple home ownership in a bid to boost the sagging property market, sources said Friday.
The government is considering cutting the acquisition tax on houses valued at less than 600 million won ($537,100) by 1 percentage point to 1 percent, according to government sources.
The tax levied on buying homes valued at more than 900 million won will also be lowered to 3 percent from the current 4 percent, while the acquisition tax on houses priced between those two figures will be retained, they added.
The Land Ministry is poised to announce details about a cut to the housing purchasing tax and how to finance a shortfall in tax revenues next week.
The move is part of the government‘s efforts to revive the sluggish property market where Koreans have refrained from buying homes amid expectations for price falls, thereby causing home prices to fall further.
In April, the government unveiled a set of measures to boost the slumping property market including tax breaks for first-time homeowners and a cut in the supply of new homes. But the effects of such steps were seen as largely limited, analysts said. (Yonhap News)
