Assets held by South Korean households in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan areas were some 70 percent larger than those owned by households in the non-metropolitan regions, data showed Saturday.

The average per-household assets in Seoul, the western city of Incheon and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province came to 692.46 million won (US$512,554) as of end-March, some 69.2 percent greater than 409.35 million won owned by each non-capital household, according to the data by Statistics Korea presented to Rep. Kim Hoi-jae of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP).

The amount of assets here includes debts.

The asset gap between metropolitan and non-metropolitan households has grown due mainly to the recent sharp increase in real estate prices centering on apartments in Seoul and the adjacent areas.

In 2018, households in the capital areas had 47.5 percent larger assets than their non-capital counterparts, and the figure rose to 53.6 percent in 2019, 59.6 percent in 2020 and 65.6 percent in 2022, the data showed.

The average yearly income for households in the capital regions stood at 702.2 million won in 2021, and that for the remaining households was 583.2 million won. (Yonhap)