French geographer Valérie Gelézeau, an associate professor of geography at Marne la Vallée University, in a book on Korea titled, “The Republic of Apartments,” says she cannot understand why Korean middle-class and even upper-class people in Korea prefer apartments. In France, she claims, they are a symbol of slums for immigrants and low-income families. In Korea, apartments were originally introduced as a means to provide mass cheap housing. In the 1960s and 1970s, apartments were where low-income earners lived. But now, apartments dominate the market for middle and upper-class families as well. Apartments are being built in bulk not only in central Seoul but on the outskirts of the capital and in the provinces, where land is cheap. The original goal of providing cheap housing was lost a long time ago, as constructors strive to build upscale, skyscraper apartments.

So why do Koreans like them so much? For one thing, buying an apartment is one of the most effective ways to increase wealth. According to Gelézeau, the dominance of apartments is attributable to the Korean government’s cap on apartment selling prices set by constructors in the 1970s and 1980s, which, ironically, drove up apartment prices later and helped owners make a profit from the sale. By economic logic, the lack of popularity of unprofitable single or multi-family houses may be natural. As homes have become a means to augment wealth, Korean people repeatedly sell homes to move into neighborhoods where prices are expected to soar, like nomads. Nineteen percent of houses were traded in last year in Korea, compared to only 5 percent in advanced countries.

Some argue that people will turn their back on apartments as they get richer. But many genuinely like apartments. Singapore and Hong Kong have apartment-centered housing culture, and in Japan, where traditionally single-family homes are in the majority, supply of high-rise apartments is increasing in metropolitan cities. In advanced nations, apartment blocks are back in trend with a boom in urban revival. Korean construction companies are exporting apartments to China and Vietnam.

In France, as Gelézeau points out, apartments tend to be rented accommodation, so their inhabitants have no stake in their upkeep. Lack of care and ownership accelerate the deterioration of apartment blocks, which is why they become slums. But in Korea, apartments are owned by residents, and sometimes apartment blocks are reborn through restoration or repairs. Some critics say that Gelézeau underestimates Korean housing culture from a Eurocentric perspective.

Compact City, which the Japanese government has developed as a city development project for a graying society, consists of apartment complexes rather than single-family homes. The city planning project builds residential areas in convenient areas for shopping and other facilities. Park Jae-ryong, a chief researcher at Samsung Economic Research Institute, said, "Apartments have advantages such as requiring less upkeep expenses and more convenient facilities than single-family homes.” He added double-income families are highly likely to prefer apartments due to those advantages.

Some forecast that suburban-style housing or townhouses will become more popular as investors work their way up. But experts doubt townhouses can become as popular as apartments. "Townhouses have disadvantages in terms of convenient facilities and upkeep expenses,” says Park Shin-young, a senior research fellow with the Housing and Urban Research Institute. “They can’t replace apartments, though they can be niche products."

(englishnews@chosun.com )