주택청약종합저축: Starting Early Pays Off

The 주택청약종합저축 (Housing Subscription Comprehensive Savings Account) is the most important financial account a young Korean adult can open, yet a surprising number of people in their 20s either do not have one or do not understand how it works. This guide explains the account mechanics, the optimal contribution strategy, how it connects to housing subscription eligibility, and why starting early is worth far more than starting later.

Housing Points Kr Compound Interest

What the Account Is

The 주택청약종합저축 is a special savings account designated by the Korean government that serves as the prerequisite for entering the lottery-based public housing subscription system (청약). Without this account, you cannot apply for any government-affiliated new apartment (국민주택) or privately built apartments under the subscription system (민영주택).

The account can be opened at major Korean commercial banks (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, Hana, NH, IBK) and at Korea Housing Finance Corporation (HF). There is no upper age limit for opening one, but opening it early dramatically improves your subscription score.

The Two Things the Account Provides

1. Contribution-based qualification: For national public housing (국민주택), the primary qualification criterion is the number of monthly deposits made and the total deposit amount. Having deposited for 24+ months and meeting the minimum balance requirements qualifies you for the first application tier.

2. Subscription points for private housing (민영주택 가점제): Private apartment lotteries often use a points-based system (가점제) that rewards three factors: duration of account, years of houseless residence, and number of dependents.

Kr Housing Points

The Point System Explained

The housing subscription point system (청약가점제) allocates a maximum of 84 points across three categories:

Category	Maximum Points	Notes
Houseless period (무주택 기간)	32 points	Max points after 15 years without owning a home
Dependents (부양가족 수)	35 points	Spouse + children + qualifying parents
Account duration (청약통장 가입 기간)	17 points	Max points after 15 years of account ownership

Account duration points accrue at a rate of approximately 1 point per year, reaching the maximum of 17 points after 15 years. A person who opens their account at age 19 will have maximum account duration points by age 34 — a meaningful edge in an extremely competitive housing market.

Use our Housing Points Kr calculator to estimate your current score and model how your score will change over time.

Optimal Contribution Strategy

Minimum contribution for maximum credit: For national housing subscription qualification, each month with a deposit of at least 2만원 (20,000 won) counts as one qualified deposit period. You do not need to deposit the maximum to count the month — depositing 20,000 won is sufficient to register the month.

Maximizing total balance for premium units: The subscription system for larger national apartments (전용면적 40㎡ 초과) prioritizes applicants by total deposit amount rather than deposit months. In this case, contributing closer to the monthly maximum (20만원 / 200,000 won) accelerates your position in the ranking.

The mathematical edge of early opening: Consider two people who both want to subscribe at age 35: - Person A opened their account at 19 and deposited 20만원/month for 16 years. - Person B opened their account at 25 and deposited 50만원/month for 10 years.

Person A has 192 qualified months and 38.4M won in the account. Person B has 120 months and 60M won. In monthly-count-based competitions, Person A wins. In balance-based competitions, Person B may win — which is why the optimal strategy depends on the type of housing you target.

Tax Benefits

Interest income on the 주택청약종합저축 is tax-exempt up to 240,000 won per year for individuals earning under 70M won annually (근로소득 기준). Additionally, annual contributions up to 2.4M won are deductible from taxable income under the housing savings deduction (주택청약 소득공제) for wage earners. These benefits are modest but real, and the account is categorically better than a regular savings account for Korean renters targeting homeownership.

Opening the Account During Military Service

Men serving in the military can and should maintain their account during service. Set up an automatic monthly transfer from your military pay before you enlist. Even a 20,000 won monthly deposit registers the month as a qualified period. Two years of military service represents 24 subscription months — a meaningful portion of the qualification timeline that is entirely free to accumulate.

The minimum monthly deposit to keep the account active without losing the month is 2만원. During tight financial months in service, even this small amount keeps the counter running. The cost of letting the account go dormant is not the lost interest — it is the lost subscription month count, which cannot be retroactively recaptured.