Korea's Cheongyak Point System: The 84-Point Table Explained

Korea's cheongyak (housing subscription) point system tops out at 84 points, and the lowest score anyone can actually receive is 6, not zero. The maximum breaks down as 32 points for time without home ownership, 35 for dependents, and 17 for how long the subscription savings account has been open. Add the three minimums — 0, 5 and 1 — and you get 6. Even with no dependents at all you start at 5 points, and an account opened less than six months ago still earns 1.

The point system decides who wins a unit when applicants of equal priority rank compete for general-supply private housing. All three categories rise automatically with time, which makes it look simple — yet applicants keep losing awarded units over miscounted dependents. The order that works is: pin down the scoring table first, then plug in your own situation.

How the 84 points break down

According to Dabang's summary of the point system, the three categories are structured as follows. Non-ownership adds 2 points per year, account tenure adds 1 point per year, and dependents add 5 points per person.

Broken into bands: non-ownership starts at 2 points for under a year, climbs 2 points each year to 30 at 14-to-15 years, then closes at 32 for 15 years or more. Only unmarried non-owners under 30 score zero. The savings account gives 1 point under six months, 2 points from six months to a year, then 1 point per year to 16 at 14-to-15 years and 17 beyond 15. Dependents run from 5 points at zero people up to 35 at six or more, in steps of five.

One dependent is worth 5 points — the same as two and a half years of non-ownership, or five years of account tenure.

That conversion exposes the character of the system. Non-ownership and account tenure fill up if you simply wait, but only at 2 and 1 points a year. Dependents jump in blocks of five the moment your household composition changes. All three look time-proportional, yet only one variable can move your score meaningfully in the short run.

What does your score come to? Four worked cases

The table alone is hard to feel, so here are four typical household types plugged into it. Non-ownership is counted from age 30 in every case, and dependents exclude the applicant.

The arithmetic: four years of non-ownership falls in the four-to-five-year band, so 2 × 5 = 10 points; eight years falls in the eight-to-nine band for 18; fifteen or more gives 32. A 12-year account sits in the 12-to-13 band for 14 points, and 15 years or more gives 17. For dependents, a spouse alone is 10 points, while a spouse plus two children plus two parents makes five people for 30.

Compare the third and fourth rows and the center of gravity becomes obvious. Non-ownership and account tenure are both maxed out identically, yet losing one qualifying dependent knocks 5 points off and turns 79 into 74. In a sought-after development, 5 points is more than enough to decide the outcome.

Dependents are where people get it wrong

Dependents count only if they appear on the same resident registration document as of the announcement date and meet the qualifying conditions. Based on the requirements laid out by Uri Jip Lawyer, three points trip people up.

• Direct ascendants need three years of joint registration — to count a parent or grandparent, they must have been continuously listed on the same registration for three or more years as of the announcement date. A recent move-in does not qualify.
• Those ascendants must themselves be non-owners — a co-residing parent who owns another home drops out of the dependent count. That is exactly the fourth row above.
• Children aged 30 or over need one year — adult children must have been jointly registered for at least a year, and any child who is married or has been married is excluded outright.

The same source pins down when the non-ownership clock starts: from age 30, or from the marriage registration date if you married before turning 30. The earlier the marriage, the longer the qualifying period. If a spouse owned property before the marriage, the count restarts from the date of disposal — which is why counting from your own history alone produces errors.

How much of the supply your score actually governs

Even a perfectly calculated score only applies to part of the supply, depending on unit size and location. Per Seoul Economic Daily's coverage of the private-housing subscription reform, allocation in speculation-overheated districts now works as follows. The key change: smaller units in those districts, previously allocated 100% by points, now include a lottery share.

For a household with a low score, the useful fact is that units of 60㎡ or under carry the largest lottery share at 60%. For a household in the 70s, units over 85㎡ carry the highest point-based share at 80%. The same score faces a different competitive structure depending on which unit size you apply for. Public and private housing use fundamentally different selection methods to begin with, so it pays to separate first-priority conditions and winner selection by supply type first.

What to check

• Registration dates — verify by calendar date whether each direct ascendant you plan to count has been jointly registered for over three years as of the announcement date.
• Home ownership among household members — a co-residing parent or grandparent who owns another property drops out of your dependent count.
• Start date for non-ownership — take the earlier of your 30th birthday and your marriage registration date, and check it against any disposal date for a spouse's prior property.
• Account opening date — name changes or re-enrollment can break the tenure count, so confirm the original opening date on the account.
• Deposits and points are separate — points look only at tenure, while public-housing priority looks at recognized deposit totals. How fast monthly deposits accumulate is a separate calculation.
• Call if anything is unclear — Dabang notes that awarded units are frequently cancelled over point-entry errors, and recommends confirming directly with the subscription help desk.

Sources

• A complete guide to the confusing cheongyak point system — Dabang
• How to calculate subscription points (+ point table) — Uri Jip Lawyer
• Lottery share introduced for 85㎡ units in speculation-overheated districts — Seoul Economic Daily