"Would You Choose a 600 Million Won Jeonse in Seoul or Your Own Home in Dongtan?" A Look at the Housing Receipts of Two Fathers in Their 30s [The 3040 Salary Cap]

[Financial News] Friday at 8 p.m. On crowded subway trains carrying exhausted commuters home after a long week, the smartphone screens of office workers in their 30s and 40s are highly likely to be displaying real estate apps. Even when they cannot afford to buy a home immediately or have no plans to move, checking where and how other people live has become almost a survival instinct.
For fathers in their 30s especially, choosing where to live is a fierce mental contest to maximize efficiency within a limited “salary cap,” or available budget. Should they choose an aging jeonse apartment in Seoul to live close to work, or enjoy the stability of owning a home in a new apartment complex in Gyeonggi Province, even if that means enduring a three-hour commute? The reality of this years-long balancing act is examined through the “housing receipts” of two fathers.

Their dilemma is not merely a matter of personal perception or vague anxiety. Clear statistics support it. According to data from KB Kookmin Bank, the average jeonse deposit for an apartment in Seoul surpassed approximately 600 million won early this year. By contrast, the average sale price of an apartment in Gyeonggi Province was in the 540 million won range. The calculation is simple: money used to rent someone else’s home in Seoul can buy a respectable home in Gyeonggi Province.
People are actually moving. According to Statistics Korea’s “2023 Domestic Population Movement Statistics,” the net number of people who left Seoul for Gyeonggi Province last year reached approximately 72,000. The biggest reason for leaving Seoul was neither employment nor education, but “housing (real estate).” It was a massive “exodus” created by the pressure of housing costs.

Kim, 36, an eighth-year employee who commutes to Gwanghwamun, lives under a jeonse lease in a 20-year-old apartment in Mapo District, Seoul, with an exclusive area of 59 square meters. The jeonse deposit is 600 million won. Meanwhile, Lee, 36, a colleague who commutes to Gangnam District, bought a three-year-old new apartment with an exclusive area of 84 square meters in Dongtan New Town, Hwaseong City, for 700 million won around the same time.
Kim’s advantage is time. His commute takes roughly 30 minutes one way by combining walking and the subway. Even after working late or attending a Friday night company dinner, he can get home by taxi for 10,000 won.
Lee’s advantages are space and infrastructure. He combines express buses with the Super Rapid Train (SRT), spending one and a half hours each way—or three hours round trip—on the road. But when he returns home after work, a spacious living room and fully equipped community facilities within the complex welcome him.


Reality is reflected in the receipts. Kim, the Seoul jeonse tenant, pays the bank approximately 800,000 won a month in interest on a 200 million won jeonse loan. Because the apartment is old, maintenance costs, including winter heating bills, are also far from negligible.
Above all, the biggest “invisible cost” is the anxiety that he may have to increase the deposit every two years when the jeonse contract expires.
Lee’s cash flow as a homeowner in Dongtan is much tighter. He bought the home with a 300 million won mortgage and makes a fixed monthly payment of approximately 1.5 million won covering principal and interest. Once sharply rising transportation costs, including express bus fares, are added, nearly 2 million won a month disappears just to maintain his housing arrangement. The time and money spent on the road on weekends to meet friends in Seoul cannot be ignored either.


Judging by the numbers alone, Lee’s life appears far more arduous, but their levels of psychological satisfaction differ.
Kim said, "The best thing is that my short commute gives me time for personal upkeep on weekday evenings." But he also confessed, "Whenever I see reports that Seoul jeonse prices are rising again, I become anxious and wonder, ‘It’s someone else’s home after all—could I eventually be pushed out of Seoul?’"
Lee, meanwhile, said, "I sometimes feel the harsh reality of life when I commute after dozing off on the shuttle bus every morning." However, he added, "On weekends, I take my seven-year-old son, who safely runs around a spacious new apartment complex, to a youth soccer club. Enjoying the neighborhood infrastructure makes the fatigue disappear. Above all, although repaying the principal and interest on the loan is burdensome, knowing that I have secured a ‘safety margin’—the possibility that my assets can continue to rise—gives me, as a father, a sense of security."
There is no single right answer. Each person simply sets lifestyle priorities according to their salary cap. What is clear, however, is that on Friday nights, behind the backs of office workers in their 30s and 40s making their way home exhausted, there is a shared feeling: “We made it through another day.” If it were you, which neighborhood would you head to this weekend?
[email protected] Sang-il Jeon Reporter