Young Koreans are finding it harder to build wealth as tighter mortgage rules have limited access to home purchases and a sharp stock-market reversal has cut investment gains. The pressure is especially acute in a country where real estate has long played an outsized role in household wealth, with property assets reaching 6.7 times GDP in 2024, compared with 2.9 times in the United States and 3.7 times in Japan, according to Bank of Korea data. President Lee Jae Myung’s administration, in office since June 2025, has tried to shift wealth creation away from property and toward equities, but critics say the transition has moved faster than households can realistically absorb. The government on Thursday unveiled its fourth housing supply plan, promising more than 230,000 additional homes in the greater Seoul area by accelerating development on public land and lifting some greenbelt areas. It also said the financial sector would have an additional 30 trillion won ($21 billion) in household lending capacity this year, including support for relocation loans tied to redevelopment and reconstruction projects. Yet many younger households remain unconvinced because construction is not expected to begin until at least 2029 in many cases, while key lending restrictions stay intact. Lee said the country’s "real estate bubble has reached a point where it can no longer be allowed to grow unchecked" and described the market as a "ticking time bomb," signaling little appetite to loosen mortgage caps or high property-related taxes. Those caps are far below prevailing home prices. Mortgage lending in greater Seoul and other regulated districts remains limited to 600 million won for homes priced at 1.5 billion won or less, 400 million won for homes above 1.5 billion won and up to 2.5 billion won, and 200 million won for homes above 2.5 billion won, while the loan-to-value ratio (share of a home’s value that can be borrowed) and debt-service ratio (income-based borrowing cap) both remain at 40 percent in regulated areas for banks. That has left many younger buyers unable to use leverage even when they believe they can handle the repayments. Although average apartment prices rose 9.4 percent nationwide and 15.4 percent in Seoul between June last year and July, only 27.7 percent of people aged 39 or younger owned the homes they lived in last year, down 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier and below 30 percent for the first time since comparable records began in 2017. Stocks have offered little escape. The Kospi has fallen 25 percent from its June peak after surging 76 percent in 2025 and nearly another 110 percent to a record high in June. The swing hurt retail investors who borrowed to magnify bets, and margin calls forced many to sell at losses. Investors in their 30s accounted for 52.34 billion won, or about 37 percent, of June’s 142.05 billion won in forced-sale transactions, Herald Business reported, citing data from Rep. Kim Sang-hoon’s office. Even so, stock-market gains had often been recycled back into housing: from January through April, 3.73 trillion won of proceeds from stock and bond sales were used for home purchases, with buyers in their 30s making up 34 percent, according to data compiled by Rep. Kim Jong-yang’s office. Experts broadly support redirecting capital into productive assets such as equities, but some argue policy has moved too abruptly. Others say policymakers should widen access to property exposure through vehicles such as REITs (listed real estate investment trusts) so younger people can invest smaller amounts instead of being shut out of direct home ownership.