Two out of three newlywed couples live in houses on lease, with half priced between 100 million won ($90,000) and 200 million won, a survey showed Monday.

The Seoul Institute said that the average size of the houses in Seoul resided in by couples married for five years or less came to 72.7 square meters, which was smaller than the national average of 80.1 square meters.

The largest 44.6 percent of them lived in apartments or multipurpose buildings (where residential and commercial facilities are combined), followed by tenement houses (36.7 percent) and detached or multifamily housing (16.4 percent).

Most, or 63.5 percent of them, lived on a yearly lease, while 21.4 percent owned their homes and 8.1 percent lived in houses provided by their parents or companies. Some 7 percent lived on a monthly lease.

Nearly half, or 44.5 percent of the houses owned by the newlyweds were priced between 200 million won and 300 million won with the average being 270 million won.

Some 49.3 percent of the leases were priced between 100 million won and 200 million won with the average at 140 million won.

The average down payment for a monthly lease was 75 million won, with the monthly lease priced at an average of 320,000 won.

Of the respondents, 24.1 percent said they would move if the down payment for their yearly lease were to be hiked.

The survey was based on research conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport last year involving 2,677 households nationwide, 612 of those households in Seoul.

From news reports (khnews@heraldcorp.com)