Top 1% now hold 60% of Korea’s financial assets: KB

Number of billion-won asset holders triples over 15 years

A Hana Bank employee holds 50,000 won bills at the bank’s headquarters in central Seoul. (Newsis)

The number of Koreans with more than 1 billion won ($677,000) in financial assets has tripled in 15 years, with the top 1 percent now controlling about 60 percent of the nation’s financial wealth, a KB report showed Sunday.

KB released its annual Korea Wealth Report, with this year’s edition featuring a retrospective analysis of the past 15 years to track changes in the size, composition and asset allocation of Korea’s wealthy population.

According to the report, the number of so-called rich Koreans, defined as individuals holding more than 1 billion won in financial assets, reached 476,000 this year, up from 130,000 in 2011 when the survey began. The group has expanded at an average annual rate of 9.6 percent and grew 3.2 percent from a year earlier.

The total amount of financial assets held by this group climbed to 3,066 trillion won, topping 3,000 trillion won for the first time. Compared with 1,158 trillion won in 2011, this implies an average annual growth of 7.2 percent. Asset holdings passed 2,000 trillion won in 2018 and added another 1,000 trillion won over the following seven years.

Despite accounting for less than 1 percent of Korea’s total population of about 51 million, the group holds more than 60 percent of the country’s household financial assets, which totaled 5,041 trillion won this year.

Within the wealthy cohort, about 90.8 percent held financial assets worth less than 10 billion won, while 6.8 percent owned between 10 billion won and 30 billion won. The remaining 2.5 percent, classified as the super-rich, held more than 30 billion won.

Wealthy Koreans held real estate assets worth 2,971 trillion won in 2025, up 6 percent on-year, though growth has slowed from 7.7 percent in 2023 and 10.2 percent in 2024. Real estate accounted for 54.8 percent of total assets, extending a decline from 59 percent in 2022. Financial investments made up 37.1 percent, remaining broadly unchanged.

Residential property continued to be the single largest asset class, accounting for 31 percent of total wealth. Liquid financial assets, including cash, followed at 12 percent, while non-owner-occupied homes accounted for 10.4 percent. Deposits made up 9.7 percent, buildings and other non-residential properties 8.7 percent, and equities 7.9 percent.

While real estate remains a cornerstone of wealth accumulation among rich Koreans, its dominance has gradually eroded as portfolios diversify. An in-depth survey of 400 wealthy individuals showed real estate profits accounted for 22 percent of reported wealth sources in 2025, down from 45.8 percent in 2011. Business income has remained the largest source of wealth over the past decade, accounting for 34.5 percent in 2025, while income from financial investments has expanded in recent years to reach 16.8 percent.

Investment preferences show a similar change. The share of respondents citing real estate as their primary investment focus fell to 14.8 percent in 2025 from 42.2 percent in 2011. Interest in real assets such as gold and art increased over the same period, rising to 15.5 percent from 2 percent.

The survey further showed that Koreans continue to consider a “rich” person as someone with total assets of at least 10 billion won, a threshold that has remained broadly stable over time.