Ipjugwon vs Bunyangkwon: 2.8% Tax and House-Count Rules

Take possession of a finished apartment through an ipjugwon — the occupancy right held by a redevelopment or reconstruction association member — and the acquisition tax is a flat 2.8%, no matter how many homes the household already owns. Korean tax law treats it as original acquisition rather than a purchase. Take the identical apartment through a bunyangkwon (pre-sale purchase right) as a second home in a regulated zone, and the rate climbs to 8%.

Both are rights to a home that does not exist yet. They diverge because of how the right came into being. A bunyangkwon is a right bought through the cheongyak subscription lottery; an ipjugwon is a home you already owned, changed into a different legal form. That single distinction drives the acquisition tax rate, the house-count start dates, and the capital gains rate.

Where the Two Rights Split

A bunyangkwon is the right to be supplied a new apartment after winning the subscription lottery, created on the date of the supply contract. An ipjugwon is the occupancy right a redevelopment association member receives once the management disposition plan is approved. One is a right newly purchased; the other is an existing home converted into a right.

That difference sets the legal character. A home received through an ipjugwon is the member taking first possession of a building the association constructed, so it counts as original acquisition rather than a sale. Multi-home surcharges, which attach only to purchases, therefore do not apply.

The acquisition date is also determined differently. For an original member, it is the point at which the old home was demolished after plan approval; for a successor who bought the right, it is the purchase date. For a bunyangkwon, it is the lottery win date, the contract signing date, or the settlement date if the right was bought on the resale market.

A bunyangkwon is a right you buy your way into. An ipjugwon is a home you already had, coming out in a new shape. The tax code prices that difference in routes.

On a 700 Million Won Home, How Big Is the Gap?

Residential purchase tax runs 1% up to 600 million won and 3% above 900 million, with the band between calculated linearly as (price in 100m units × 2 ÷ 3 − 3)%. The mechanics of that sliding band are covered in the piece on the 1-3% acquisition tax range.

Setting the completed home at 700 million won, the routes split as follows. Figures are the base tax only, excluding local education tax and the rural special tax, and the original-acquisition base is set at the same 700 million for comparability.

For a single-home household the bunyangkwon route is 7.93 million won cheaper. The moment it becomes a second home in a regulated zone, the gap inverts and the ipjugwon route saves 36.4 million won. The 2.8% original-acquisition rate is fixed against both house count and zone designation.

The Rates Cross at 870 Million Won

Solving for the price at which the purchase rate equals 2.8% gives price ÷ 100m × 2 ÷ 3 = 5.8, or 870 million won. That is the line where the advantage flips.

This comparison assumes a single-home household outside a regulated zone. Once surcharge rates apply, the 870 million threshold stops meaning anything — the ipjugwon side is lower at every price point.

Buying into an ipjugwon is taxed separately again. Purchase before demolition, while the old home still stands, attracts the 1-3% residential rate; after demolition, when only land remains, 4.6%; and at completion, 2.8%. The rate jumps once around demolition and comes back down.

When Does It Start Counting as a Home?

This is where calculations most often go wrong. The same right enters the house count on different dates depending on the tax. The acquisition-date test has to be read alongside it.

The fifteen-year gap in the capital gains start dates matters. Ipjugwon have counted since 2006; bunyangkwon only from acquisitions on or after 1 January 2021. A pre-sale right contracted in December 2020 and one contracted in January 2021 sit in different regimes because of that single line.

Note also that an ipjugwon is not itself subject to acquisition tax. No bill arrives, yet holding one adds to the household's home count. It feeds into surcharge determinations when you buy something else, which makes it easy to forget. The same pattern of tax-by-tax divergence shows up in how officetels are counted.

If holding an existing home plus a bunyangkwon puts two regulated-zone homes in the household, disposing of either within three years of the new acquisition qualifies as temporary two-home status. Counting that window ties into the one, two and three year structure of the temporary two-home exemption.

Capital Gains Turn on the Two-Year Mark

Rates match for both rights below two years: 70% under one year, 60% from one to two. Past two years they separate. A bunyangkwon stays at a flat 60%, while an ipjugwon moves onto the progressive basic schedule of 6-45%.

Since the basic schedule tops out at 45%, disposing after two years produces a lower bill on the ipjugwon side regardless of gain size. Factoring in the progressive deduction widens the gap beyond what the table shows.

Financing differs too. Interim payment loans on a bunyangkwon can sometimes sit outside DSR, but the final settlement loan is subject to both DSR and LTV. Mistaking the interim-stage headroom for the settlement-stage limit is how move-in funding plans come apart.

What to Check

• Whether the acquisition date falls on or after 12 August 2020 — contracts before that date do not enter the acquisition tax house count. Start with the contract date.
• Which bunyangkwon acquisition test applies — lottery win date, contract signing date, or settlement date on a resale. The reference date changes accordingly.
• Whether the ipjugwon was bought before or after demolition — 1-3% while the home stands, 4.6% once only land remains.
• Whether the expected completion price exceeds 870 million won — above that line, on a single-home unregulated basis, 2.8% original acquisition beats the purchase rate.
• Regulated zone status and disposal plans — selling one home within three years of the new acquisition avoids the surcharge under temporary two-home rules.
• The two-year holding boundary — the basic schedule only becomes available past two years. A single day separates 60% from the progressive rates.
• Settlement loan capacity — interim and settlement stages face different rules. Recalculate DSR at the settlement point.

Sources

• Bunyangkwon vs ipjugwon: trading, capital gains and loans — KB think
• Pre-sale right tax rules that change capital gains and acquisition tax — Hankyung
• Association occupancy rights taxed as original acquisition at 2.8% — Ilgan NTN