Housing Subscription Savings Account: Cancel or Keep in 2026

Decide whether to close your housing subscription savings account based first on your plans to buy a home, rather than expected stock returns. If you close it, your existing membership period and payment history will generally be lost. If monthly payments are the problem, first consider adjusting the amount or pausing payments.

Interest rates are based on the notice effective January 2026, and tax rules are based on the National Tax Service guidance for the 2025 tax year.

What do you lose if you close your housing subscription savings account?

If you close the account normally and open a new one, your previous subscription history generally does not carry over. A Housing Subscription Comprehensive Savings Account is used to apply for National Housing and private housing. You must distinguish between the money accumulated in the account and the history recognized for housing subscriptions.

When you close the account, you can receive the principal and accrued interest. However, you cannot buy back a long membership period with money. Official account conversions and reinstatement grounds provided by law should be distinguished from normal closure. You can review the basic structure of the account system in the Easy Law guide to opening an account.

The private housing points system has a total of 84 points. Of these, the account membership period is worth up to 17 points. However, this should not be generalized as the selection standard for every housing offering.

It is also inaccurate to say that opening a new account reduces your entire score to 0. Under the membership period scoring table, the bracket for less than 6 months receives 1 point. Other categories, such as the period without home ownership, are assessed separately. The scoring structure is summarized in the National Assembly Research Service analysis of the housing subscription points system.

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Consider adjusting monthly payments before closing a housing subscription account.

Comparing maintenance, paused payments, and closure by circumstance

First determine whether the monthly outflow is the burden or whether you need the existing balance. Reducing payments can lower your future cash outflow. If you need money already deposited in the account, that requires a separate decision.

Simply pausing payments does not close the account. However, recognition of payments for National Housing may be delayed. Do not assume that depositing a lump sum later will cause every payment to be recognized immediately. The treatment of late payments is explained in the KB Kookmin Bank product guide.

When monthly payments of KRW 250,000 are needed

KRW 250,000 per month is not a mandatory payment for every account holder. It relates to the monthly payment recognition limit for National Housing. The standard monthly payment range for a regular Housing Subscription Comprehensive Savings Account is KRW 20,000 to KRW 500,000.

For National Housing, the recognition limit applies even if you deposit more than KRW 250,000 per month. For private housing, you must separately check whether you meet the required deposit for the region and housing size. Therefore, there is no need to increase your payment before choosing a target home. You can review this standard in Easy Law as of August 15, 2026.

• Preparing for National Housing: Check the account balance separately from the recognized payment history.
• Preparing for private housing: Check the required deposit for the desired housing size and the membership period.
• Adjusting monthly expenses: Secure your living expenses first, then decide on an affordable payment amount.

How much interest and income deduction apply?

Interest rates and tax benefits apply only when their respective conditions are met. Avoid calculations that retroactively apply the regular account rate to the entire balance. Actual interest varies depending on when payments were made and the history of rate changes.

The regular account interest rate follows the notice on interest rates for Housing Subscription Comprehensive Savings Accounts. The preferential rate for the youth account applies to principal of up to KRW 50 million. Generally, if the account has been maintained for at least 2 years, it applies during the period without home ownership. The applicable period is up to 10 years, and you should also review the bank's detailed conditions.

The income deduction is available to employees with total annual pay of at most KRW 70 million. You must also belong to a household without home ownership during the tax year. You must be the head of the household or the spouse of the head of the household. The extension to spouses applies to payments made on or after January 1, 2025.

The deduction is based on payments made into an account in your own name. Also check the registration of your certificate of no home ownership and your payment certificate. The exact eligibility conditions are provided in the National Tax Service guide to the housing savings income deduction.

Calculation example: What an income deduction of KRW 1.2 million means

If you pay KRW 250,000 per month for 12 months, your annual payments total KRW 3 million. This calculation assumes an employee who meets all income deduction requirements. The combined limit with other housing fund deductions must be checked separately.

KRW 1.2 million is not returned to your account. It is the amount deducted from income when calculating tax. The actual refund is also affected by the tax you have already paid. Adding the income deduction amount as though it were an investment return overstates the benefit.

Check taxes and account conversion before closing

If you claimed an income deduction, first check whether tax may be recaptured when you close the account. Normal closure within 5 years from the account opening date is a representative reason for recapture. Accounts that won housing exceeding the National Housing size limit are also subject to separate treatment.

According to the bank's guidance, the recapture tax rate is 6% of the cumulative eligible payments. Local income tax is separate. The settlement varies depending on exceptions and your actual deduction history. Refer to the KB Kookmin Bank guidance on tax recapture and request an estimate.

If you want to switch to a youth product, ask about an account conversion before closing the regular account. An official conversion can carry over your existing membership period and recognized payment history. However, the regular account interest rate applies to the converted principal. You must also separately check how advance and late payment information is handled.

The Youth Housing Dream Subscription Account is generally available to people aged 19 to 34 who do not own a home. The annual income limit is KRW 50 million. Deductions for military service periods and exceptions for proof of income follow separate rules. The account eligibility and tax exemption requirements are not the same.

Does the decline in subscribers mean the 2030 generation is closing accounts?

The number of accounts by membership period alone does not reveal the ages of account holders. Not all accounts held for a short period can be considered youth accounts. A decline in the total number of subscribers is also not the same indicator as the number of account closures.

As time passes, accounts move into the next membership period bracket. Therefore, year-over-year changes in the same bracket are also affected by this movement. Separate evidence is needed to determine whether money from closed accounts went into stocks. Check the original statistical tables in the subscription account status section of the Korea Real Estate Board's ApplyHome.

The difference between supply measures and actual subscription schedules

The announcement of supply measures alone does not confirm application or move-in dates. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced rapid housing supply measures on August 13, 2026. The plan is to supply a total of 230,000 homes in the Seoul metropolitan area by 2030.

Next, we will designate new public housing districts in well-located areas of the Seoul metropolitan area, including areas near transit stations, and supply 100,000 homes by 2030.

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, briefing on the “Rapid Housing Supply Measures to Stabilize the Jeonse, Monthly Rental, and Sales Markets”

The briefing states that the three newly announced districts will provide 27,000 housing units. It presents plans to start construction in those districts within 3 to 4 years. Starting construction means beginning the building work. It should not be read as meaning residents will move in within that period. Details are available in the full Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport briefing.

Schedules for third-generation new towns and redevelopment projects must be checked by project site. Application conditions for New:Home also vary by supply category. Special supply for young people does not apply to every public housing sale. Check the income, asset, and account conditions in the recruitment notice for the complex that interests you.

Chances of winning and ability to pay for the home

The value of keeping the account and your ability to sign the contract after winning are separate decisions. If units are allocated by lottery, you may have an opportunity to apply even with a low points score. However, you must first meet the basic eligibility requirements for that supply. Do not estimate your own chances based on another person's winning case.

If the sale price is burdensome, write down the payment dates from the down payment through the final payment. The amount you can borrow must be checked separately from the payment schedule in the recruitment notice. The account balance does not replace the entire down payment. You can organize the required cash in the following order.

1. Check the sale price and down payment due date in the recruitment notice.
2. Write down the interim payment schedule separately from the loan conditions.
3. Separate the cash you will use at the final payment date from the expected loan amount.
4. Check separate expenses, including acquisition-related taxes and moving costs.
5. If you need proceeds from selling stocks, also calculate the potential funding shortfall if you incur a loss.

If this calculation shows a funding shortfall, you can adjust your target home. Keeping the account does not mean you must also decide to apply. Consider ways to reduce the payment burden while preserving your future options.

Common mistakes when comparing it with stock investment

Expected stock returns and the interest rate on a housing subscription savings account are not the same type of figure. Stocks can lose principal when prices fall. A housing subscription savings account has value in its subscription history in addition to interest. It is difficult to convert that value into a guaranteed rate of return.

Housing subscription savings accounts are not protected under the Depositor Protection Act. They are managed by the government as a funding source for the Housing and Urban Fund. The net proceeds from closure vary depending on tax settlement and other factors. The product's management structure can also be reviewed in the Youth Housing Dream Subscription Account guide.