(MENAFN- IANS) Seoul, Dec 4 (IANS) South Korea's average net assets per household rose 5 per cent from a year earlier in 2025, driven by higher home prices and growth in financial assets, though inequality among households continued to deepen, central bank data showed on Thursday.

The average value of net assets held by households stood at 471.44 million won (US$320,441) as of end-March, up from 448.94 million won a year earlier, according to data from the Bank of Korea (BOK), reports Yonhap news agency.

In detail, the average household held total assets worth 566.78 million won, up 4.9 per cent from a year earlier, as real, non-financial assets increased 5.8 per cent to 429.88 million won, while financial assets rose 2.3 per cent to 136.90 million won.

Household liabilities climbed 4.4 per cent to 95.34 million won as of end-March, as rental deposits surged 10 per cent to 27.39 million won and financial debt gained 2.4 per cent to 67.95 million won.

Of all households, 57 per cent held net assets of less than 300 million won, while 11.8 per cent had net assets of 1 billion won or more, the data showed.

The debt-to-asset ratio stood at 16.8 percent as of end-March, down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier, while the ratio of financial debt to savings fell by 0.1 percentage point to 68.2 percent.

The average household income in 2024 came to 74.27 million won, up 3.4 percent from a year earlier, with disposable income totaling 60.32 million won.

Inequality among households intensified.

The average assets held by households in the top 20 percent stood at 1.33 billion won, about 8.4 times those of households in the bottom quintile, which averaged 159.13 million won. The gap widened from 7.3 times a year earlier.

The net-asset Gini coefficient, which measures the degree of inequality in net assets, came to 0.625, marking the highest level since the BOK began compiling related data in 2012.

The income quintile ratio, which means the average income of the top 20 percent divided by that of the bottom 20 percent, rose by 0.06 point from a year earlier to reach 5.78 times.

The relative poverty rate also increased by 0.4 percentage point on year, the data showed.

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