Published on July 27, 2026
Published by Tax Policy Analysis 2 and Tax Analysis Counsel, Estimates & Tax Analysis Department

 

❑ From a tax policy perspective, real estate is an asset subject to taxation throughout its life cycle. In Korea, acquisition tax is imposed at the acquisition stage, property tax and Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax at the ownership stage, and capital gains tax at the disposal stage.

 ◦ This report focuses on the taxation of residential property during the ownership stage in Korea and selected major countries.

❑ The report aims to provide background information for discussions on housing property tax reform by comparing and analyzing the housing taxation systems of Korea and selected major countries at each stage of the tax calculation process.
 ◦ Housing property taxes are recurrent taxes imposed annually on the ownership of residential property.
   - Korea operates a dual system of housing property taxation comprising a national tax, the Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax, and a local tax, the Property Tax.
 ◦ To support discussions on housing property tax reform, this report compares and analyzes the taxation systems of Korea and selected major countries by each stage of the housing property tax calculation process.

❑ The analysis covers nine countries: Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, and China. Housing property tax systems in representative cities in these countries are compared.
 ◦ As housing property taxes in most of the selected countries are administered as local taxes, the analysis focuses primarily on comparing the housing property tax systems of major cities.