Parents Transfer Trillions Worth of Real Estate to Children

Wealthy Koreans transferred trillions worth of assets to their children last year to avoid taxes, especially real estate.

The total amount of assets transferred from parents to children last year grew 1.5 times from the previous year to W43.6 trillion, the National Tax Service said Tuesday (US$1=W1,131).

Out of 214,603 separate transactions, the biggest proportion were transfers of residential or commercial property with 70,691, up 68.1 percent, while their value soared 2.4 times to W19.87 trillion.

The increase coincides with increasingly frantic efforts by the government to stem real-estate speculation through punitive taxes, a strategy that badly backfired and stoked a dramatic property bubble.

Many owners of multiple homes refused to be cowed and either gritted their teeth to pay the taxes or transferred some real estate to their children.