> morgage in SK is very very difficult to get - most people early in life not qualifying for one This is the same in the large majority of other wealthy countr

> morgage in SK is very very difficult to get - most people early in life not qualifying for one This is the same in the large majority of other wealthy countries. The difference is that in Korea the pressure for a newly married couple to move straight into a bought or at least jeonse apartment is much bigger. Paying monthly rent is seen as a sin. This completely unrealistic expectation isn't nearly as strong in e.g. urbanized Western-Europe, in some of which it's even harder to get a mortgage than in Korea. This is boosted by the societal fantasy of ever-rising property prices. This again is also seen elsewhere but in Korea it's much more extreme. Completely understandable as they've been rising for multiple decades straight, but still wildly unrealistic. Japan has gone through the exact same process in the past.