[비즈한국] On February 13, 2026, the president uttered a sentence that was short but heavy: "Is it fair to provide mortgage maturity extension benefits to those who have held onto multiple homes without consolidating them, despite being given the opportunity to do so?" This remark is not merely an expression of sentiment. It is a policy signal from the government to the market and a warning letter to multi-home owners that the nature of their risk has changed.
Now, the concerns of multi-home owners go beyond 'whether prices will rise or fall.' The real question is this: In a situation where taxes, loans, and transaction regulations are tightening simultaneously, is your position a case of 'multi-home ownership maintained by coincidence,' or an 'intentionally designed asset structure'? The market always survives. What doesn't survive is not the 'house,' but the 'unplanned structure.'
The source of fear is not prices, but the 'three clocks'
The first clock is the 'tax clock.' As predicted, the government has set in stone that the heavier capital gains tax for multi-home owners will resume on May 9, 2026. At the same time, they presented a supplementary measure to allow a 4–6 month grace period for the final balance and registration process for contracts signed by May 9. One point is crucial: the existence of a 'grace period' implies the existence of a 'deadline.'
The second clock is the 'loan clock.' The fact that new loans are blocked for multi-home owners is nothing new. What is new is that even 'maturity extensions' have entered the framework of fairness. Regulations usually start with 'acquisition,' but over time, they move to 'extension' and 'maintenance.' Today's message demonstrates that transition.
The third clock is the 'transaction clock.' Land transaction permit zones do not just make trading difficult; they make trading slower. The fact that land transaction permit zones for apartment-purpose land in the three Gangnam districts and Yongsan-gu have been extended until December 31, 2026, increases the 'time cost' of the market. The tax clock is accelerating, while the transaction clock is slowing down. This inversion erodes the bargaining power and options of multi-home owners.
What happens when these three clocks move simultaneously? It results not in a 'crash,' but in forced liquidation. The greatest tragedy for multi-home owners occurs not because prices drop, but when maturity dates, taxes, and transaction difficulties overlap on the same day, forcing them into a state where they "cannot sell when they want to, and cannot hold on when they need to."
What multi-home owners need is not an 'answer,' but an 'order.' Not all multi-home owners are speculators, and not all are benevolent rental suppliers. The reality is diverse. Therefore, slogans like "Sell" or "Hold" are irresponsible. What is needed now is the order of judgment.
First, categorize what kind of multi-home owner you are. What determines the fate of multi-home ownership is not the 'number of properties,' but the 'structure.'
Leverage-type multi-home owners have a high proportion of mortgage loans, lease-based (jeonse) successions, and gap investment structures. The risk for this type erupts from maturity dates, interest rates, and lease expirations rather than prices. Cash-flow-type multi-home owners may have room to hold if their loans are low and rental income (monthly rent) is stable. However, even in this case, the greed of "holding everything" ultimately returns as tax deadlines and policy risks. Succession-type multi-home owners have family inheritance, gifting, or relocation plans scheduled. For this type, the precision of the succession plan determines success or failure.
If you don't know which category you belong to, your emotions will fluctuate every time policy changes. If emotions are shaken, transactions are always delayed. Delayed transactions lose to the tax clock.
Next, create a 'maturity calendar' for all your homes. The crisis for multi-home owners starts not with numbers, but with dates. Organize the mortgage maturity date, fixed/variable structure, repayment method, lease contract expiration date, and possibility of deposit return for each home into a single calendar. The moment the president's message elevated the issue of loan maturity extensions to one of fairness, maturity extension ceased to be a matter of habit and became a matter of review and sentiment.
Then, divide your holdings only into 'core' and 'poison' assets. People often fail because they cannot bring themselves to sell their 'good homes' first. In reality, it is the opposite: they fail because they cannot sell the bad ones. Core assets are those that maintain demand even when the market is shaken. They are assets where proximity to workplaces, school districts, transportation, and rarity overlap, and where rental occupancy is maintained. Poison assets are those with high vacancy risks, rising maintenance costs, low liquidity, and higher vulnerability to regulations. Liquidation is not about selling the core, but about removing the poison first. This is order.
May 9 is not just a 'calendar date,' but a 'turning point for bargaining power.' The fact that the heavy capital gains tax for multi-home owners resumes on May 9 is not simply a matter of tax rates rising. What changes after that date is not the seller's psychology, but the buyer's bargaining power. The moment taxes become heavier, buyers become more relaxed. Sellers become more impatient. As the transaction process becomes longer due to regulations, that gap widens. The extension of land transaction permit zones directly increases that time cost.
The government's announcement of a 4–6 month grace period for the final balance and registration after contract signing is a recognition that real estate transactions are essentially 'time-intensive industries.' However, the grace period is not a lifeline. A lifeline is "moving first in the direction you want to live."
Multi-home owners have only four options. Politics wants to bundle all multi-home owners into one word. However, the market cannot be bundled. The path a multi-home owner takes now ultimately converges into one of four directions.
First, selective liquidation: not 'all at once,' but 'in order.'
There is no need to sell everything. However, there is no room to leave 'poison' unchecked. The important principle here is simple: homes you can't sell because you're stingy about taxes usually return as higher costs. That cost could be interest rates, vacancies, or pressure to return security deposits. Selective liquidation is not about 'matching prices,' but about 'removing risk.' And removing risk is always about cutting the weakest link first.
Second, reorganization into one 'smart home': not as a 'slogan,' but as a 'function.'
A 'smart home' (똘똘한 한 채) is not a slogan. It is not 'smart' because it is expensive; it is smart if it is a home that can be sold when needed, rented out when needed, and lived in when needed. In an environment where loan limits and LTV (Loan-to-Value) ratios in regulated areas are tightening, maintaining multiple properties becomes a 'game of probability regarding policy risk.' For example, the flow of reducing mortgage limits and tightening LTV in regulated areas narrows the breathing room for leverage-type multi-home ownership.
Third, the standard approach to rental operations: surviving through cash flow.
If loans are low and rental demand is stable, holding on is possible. However, that holding must be an operation that manages vacancy and deposit risks, not based on the thought that "prices will rise eventually." In this phase, the skill of a rental business owner is revealed not in 'regional forecasts' but in 'commercialization.' Control repairs, management, rental structure, timing of conversion to monthly rent, and tenant replacement costs through numbers. A multi-home ownership that can endure is not 'many homes,' but 'managed homes.'
Fourth, succession planning: not avoiding capital gains tax, but 'changing the tax item.'
Gifting and inheritance can be the answer or a trap. It is common to take on a heavier burden through gift and inheritance taxes while trying to avoid capital gains tax. For succession-type multi-home owners, aligning family residential plans and financial plans is more important than "reducing taxes." Only after this alignment is complete does tax planning become meaningful.
There is only one path left for multi-home owners: 'Pre-planned resolution'
What multi-home owners need now is neither the anger of agitation nor the prayer of hope. It is a calculated resolution. Create a maturity calendar, divide core from poison, calculate the after-tax cash flow after May 9, and choose and execute one path: selective liquidation, reorganization into one home, strengthening rental operations, or succession planning.
The era of multi-home ownership is not ending. The era of 'unplanned multi-home ownership' is ending. The stronger the policies, the simpler the method of survival becomes. Numbers, dates, and order. The survival of a multi-home owner depends not on 'believing in the house,' but on 'designing the structure.'
Kim Hak-ryeol, the head of the Smart Tube Real Estate Research Institute, known by the pen name 'Pashong,' served as a team leader at the Gallup Korea Real Estate Research Division. He operates and hosts the Naver blog 'Pashong's World Exploration' and the YouTube channel 'StuTV.' He is the author of books including 'Republic of Korea Real Estate User Manual: Rewritten (2025),' 'Power of Gyeonggi Real Estate (2024),' 'Absolute Principles of Seoul Real Estate (2023),' 'Future of Incheon Real Estate (2022),' 'Kim Hak-ryeol's Absolute Principles of Real Estate Investment (2022),' 'Republic of Korea Real Estate Future Map (2021),' and 'Only Places That Will Rise, Rise From Now On (2020).'