"The landlord is three years old, collecting rent steadily"... 179 preschool-age "golden spoon" children earning rental income

[Financial News] More than 3,000 minors, including 179 preschool-age children, were found to be earning rental income from real estate.

Yonhap News Agency reported on the 7th that 179 children aged 0–5 reported real estate rental income in 2024, citing the National Tax Service's data on "annual real estate rental income among minors," obtained by Moon Jin-seok, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea and a member of the National Assembly Planning and Finance Committee.
By age, there were nine children aged 0–1, 15 two-year-olds, 33 three-year-olds, 51 four-year-olds and 71 five-year-olds.
The average annual real estate rental income per person was 14.7 million won for children aged 0–1, 12.3 million won for two-year-olds, 18.4 million won for three-year-olds, 14.7 million won for four-year-olds and 15 million won for five-year-olds.
Given that the resident registration population statistics from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) put the number of children aged 0–5 at 1.582 million in 2024, this suggests that 0.01% of them were earning unearned income from assets received from their parents or grandparents before even starting school. However, the number of children aged 0–5 who earned real estate rental income fell below 200 in 2024, declining from 252 in 2020, 238 in 2021, 250 in 2022 and 217 in 2023 to 179.
Expanding the scope to all minors aged 18 or younger, a total of 3,233 people reported real estate rental income. This represented 0.04% of the population in that age group, which totaled 7.325 million. Their reported real estate rental income amounted to 55.584 billion won in total, with an average of about 17.2 million won per person.

The number of people reporting real estate rental income generally increased with age. The figure remained in the 100s among children aged 7–11, rose to the 200s among those aged 12–14, and reached the 300s among those aged 15–18.
Even when the analysis period was expanded to the most recent five years, more than 3,000 minors reported real estate rental income each year from 2020 through 2024. During this period, average income per person ranged from 17.2 million won to 18.5 million won. Most of them are presumed to have earned rental income from real estate acquired through inheritance or gifts.
Moon said, "Real estate rental income among minors is increasing under the influence of early inheritance and gifts. The NTS must examine the sources of funds for real estate held in minors' names and thoroughly check for any irregular inheritance or gifting."
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter