Money earned from cryptocurrencies is now flowing into Korea's housing market, with buyers in their 30s leading all age groups in using crypto proceeds to purchase homes.
From February 10 to March 31 this year, a total of 324 people listed "proceeds from cryptocurrency sales" on their home purchase funding plans, according to data submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) to Rep. Kim Jong-yang of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, on Monday.
Of these, 229 were in their 30s, accounting for 70.7 percent of the total.
The home purchase funding plan is a document that must be submitted for all home transactions in regulated areas and for homes worth 600 million won or more in non-regulated areas. Since February, cryptocurrency sale proceeds have been added as a separate item, requiring buyers to disclose the timing of sales and won-conversion details.
Buyers in their 30s used a total of 10.31 billion won in cryptocurrency sale proceeds to purchase homes, the largest amount among all age groups. They were followed by those in their 40s with 5.495 billion won, those in their 20s with 1.185 billion won, and those in their 50s with 1.072 billion won.
However, crypto proceeds still account for a small share of overall home purchase funds. For buyers in their 30s, crypto made up just 0.1 percent of total funds. Larger shares came from real estate disposal proceeds (18.7 percent), bank deposits (14.6 percent), gifts and inheritance (6.9 percent), and sales of stocks and bonds (4.3 percent).
"Younger generations in their 20s and 30s tend to have high exposure to stocks and crypto," said Kim In-man, head of the Kim In-man Real Estate Economy Research Institute. "There is a strong possibility that the flow of investment gains into the property market will increase going forward."
"With lending conditions tight, more people will likely liquidate crypto or stock holdings to raise home purchase funds," he added.
Meanwhile, as the crypto market weakens and domestic equities strengthen, a clear shift of funds from cryptocurrency to stocks is emerging.
According to data submitted by the Bank of Korea (BOK) to Rep. Cha Gyu-geun of the Rebuilding Korea Party on the 5th, investor deposits surged from 87.83 trillion won at the end of last year to 124.76 trillion won at the end of last month. That is an increase of about 36.93 trillion won in just four months.
By contrast, domestic crypto asset holdings stood at 60.6 trillion won as of the end of February, down from 121.8 trillion won at the end of last year — nearly halving in just two months.
Trading volumes have also plunged. Average daily crypto trading value soared to 17.1 trillion won in December last year but fell to about 4.5 trillion won by the end of February. Won-denominated deposits, which represent cash waiting to be invested, also dropped from 10.7 trillion won to 7.8 trillion won during the same period.
Funds are rapidly flowing into the stock market. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, investor deposits rose from 87.83 trillion won at the end of last year to 124.76 trillion won at the end of last month, an increase of about 37 trillion won over four months.
Experts see the simultaneous weakness in crypto and strength in the KOSPI as driving the fund migration.
"The stock market boom has drawn investment funds, and the decline in cryptocurrency prices has also had a significant impact," said Hong Sung-wook, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities.
