Buy the new home first and sell within three years, and you are still a one-home household
Acquire the new home more than a year after acquiring the old one, and sell the old one within three years of acquiring the new, and you are treated as a one-home household and the exemption applies. Three years is the default. Under a decree promulgated on 30 September 2026, for sales on or after 1 October 2026 the window is 2 years where the old home is in an adjustment target area and the new one, also in such an area, was bought on or after 4 August 2026.
Conditions used in the video
- Sale price
- ₩1.5B
- Acquisition price
- ₩800M
- Necessary expenses
- ₩30M
- Holding and residence
- 10 years each
- Adjustment target area at acquisition
- no
- When the old home is sold
- 35 months after the new acquisition
Results
- Gain on sale
- ₩670M
- Sold at 35 months (concession applied)
- ₩2,623,500
- Sold at 37 months (concession lost)
- ₩206,943,000
- Difference
- ₩204,319,500
- Difference in time
- 2 months
At a glance
An illustration assuming a ₩1.5B sale, ₩800M acquisition, 10 years held and 10 years lived in. Change the facts and the difference changes with them.
- Sold at 35 months₩2.62M
inside the deadline
- Sold at 37 months₩206.94M
past the deadline
Why it works this way
Moving from one home to another often goes out of order. The place you live in will not sell, a place you like comes up, and you end up buying the new one first. At that moment you are, on paper, a two-home owner.
The question is what that does to the tax. Treated as a multiple-home owner there is no exemption, and a surcharge may follow. But the law knows this situation is common for people buying to live in, and made an exception, the temporary two-home concession.
Miss either one and the concession does not apply.
- ① After acquiring the old homeat least a year before acquiring the new
- ② After acquiring the new homesell the old within 3 years
- Resulttreated as a one-home household, exemption applies
The February 2023 amendment set the disposal deadline at three years. 🔴 For sales on or after 1 October 2026 it is two years where both homes are in adjustment target areas and the new one was bought on or after 4 August 2026. Otherwise it stays three years.
The first condition catches more people than expected. Buy the new home before a year has passed since buying the old one and the concession is not available. It is there to stop two homes being bought in quick succession, and a hurried move can be blocked by it.
The second condition is the one that causes more trouble in practice: treating three years as ample, and then the home does not sell and the deadline passes. And the deadline is counted in days, not months.
Let us put actual numbers on what missing it does. Take a home bought at ₩800M and sold at ₩1.5B, held for ten years and lived in for ten.
Calculated as a one-home household.
- Gain on sale₩670M
- Only the part above ₩1.2B is taxed₩134M
- Long-term holding deduction at 80%− ₩107.2M
- Tax₩2,623,500
Only the gain attributable to the part above ₩1.2B is taxed. Of the whole ₩670M gain, (₩1.5B − ₩1.2B) ÷ ₩1.5B, or one fifth, is taxable.
The concession is lost and the ordinary calculation returns.
- Gain on sale₩670M
- Taxed in full₩670M
- Long-term holding deduction at 20%− ₩134M
- Tax₩206,943,000
The same home and the same gain, with ₩204.32M more attached for being two months late.
Why the gap opens so wide is the most important part of this episode. One condition going wrong turns two things over at once.
The taxable amount multiplies fivefold at the same moment the deduction rate falls to a quarter.
- Taxable share (inside the deadline)20% of the gain
- Taxable share (past the deadline)100% of the gain
- Long-term deduction (inside the deadline)80%
- Long-term deduction (past the deadline)20%
First, what was taxed only above ₩1.2B becomes the whole gain taxed. Second, the long-term holding deduction drops from the one-home maximum of 80% to the ordinary 20%. As the tax base grows the rate band climbs too, so it compounds in three layers.
A few things to note. The concession has several exceptions. Where the disposal is outside your own control (expropriation or purchase by agreement), the one-year condition does not apply. Where two homes arise through inheritance, marriage or taking in a parent, there are separate provisions.
And one more source of confusion. Temporary two-home status also takes you out of the acquisition tax surcharge, but acquisition tax and capital gains tax set their conditions under their own statutes. The periods are not always the same. In an actual transaction both have to be checked.
So if you are preparing a move, there is one thing to do first. Pull the property register, check the acquisition dates of the old home and the new one, and mark on a calendar when the three years run out from there. That date becomes the reference point for the negotiation.
The legal basis
Drawn from government announcements and the statutes themselves as primary sources, covering only the relevant part.
소득세법 시행령 제155조제1항제1호 (two-year window between adjustment target areas, Presidential Decree No. 36737)
In force Promulgated 2026-09-30, in force 2026-10-01 (new homes acquired on or after 4 Aug 2026, prior homes disposed of on or after 1 Oct 2026)
Where both the prior home and the new home are in adjustment target zones, the window to dispose of the prior home has shrunk from 3 years to 2 (addendum article 2). Where the new home was acquired, or a contract signed and down payment made, by 3 August 2026, the previous 3-year window stays. As a decree matter it needed no National Assembly vote and was promulgated on 30 September 2026.
What this means
Buyers moving between adjustment target zones from 4 August onward get 2 years. Everyone else (earlier buyers, or moves involving a non-zone home) keeps 3. The 35-month and 37-month calculations on this page follow the previous 3-year rule.
소득세법 시행령 제155조제1항 (temporary two-home concession)
In force amended 2023-02-28 (three-year disposal deadline) · from 2026-10-01 this is item 2 (moves not between adjustment target areas)
Where a household owning one home in Korea acquires another home before selling it and temporarily holds two, then, if the new home is acquired at least one year after the day the old home was acquired and the old home is sold within three years of the day the new home was acquired, the household is treated as a one-home household and 제154조제1항 applies.
What this means
Buying the new home first still counts as one home if the old one is sold inside the deadline. Unless both homes fall under item 1 above, whether the area is an adjustment target area does not come into it and the window is three years. Both conditions are judged by date, so the acquisition dates on the property register govern.
소득세법 제89조제1항제3호 · 시행령 제160조 (gain on a high-value home)
In force in force
For a high-value home with an actual transaction price above ₩1.2B, the one-home exemption is disapplied only as to the gain attributable to the excess. The taxable gain is the whole gain multiplied by (sale price − ₩1.2B) ÷ sale price.
What this means
Going above ₩1.2B does not tax the whole thing. Only the excess ratio is taxed. Sell at ₩1.5B and one fifth is taxable.
소득세법 제95조제2항 표2 (long-term holding deduction for a one-home household)
In force in force
An asset qualifying as a one-home household's home is deducted by 4% a year for the holding period (up to 40%) plus 4% a year for the residence period (up to 40%), to a maximum of 80%. A one-home household given table 2 means, under 시행령 제159조의4, one whose residence period within the holding period is at least two years. Other assets are deducted under table 1 at 2% a year, up to 30%, and require at least three years of holding.
What this means
The table 2 condition is separate from the exemption condition. Even where the area was unregulated at acquisition and the exemption comes without residence, falling short of two years' residence leaves you on table 1 (up to 30%).
지방세법 제13조의2제1항제2호 (temporary two homes for acquisition tax)
In force in force
Temporary two-home status is also excluded from the acquisition tax surcharge. The conditions for temporary two-home status under acquisition tax and under capital gains tax are, however, set separately by their own statutes.
What this means
The acquisition tax releases too, but the period conditions are not always the same. Both statutes have to be checked when planning a move.
Run it on your own numbers
The calculator opens with these conditions already filled in. Change the figures and your own case comes straight out.
Open the Single-Home Exemption Checker
Frequently asked
If I buy a new home on or after 4 August, is it always two years?
No. It is two years only when both the old home and the new home are in adjustment target areas. If either one is outside, three years still applies. And where the home was acquired, or the deposit paid, on or before 3 August 2026, the old three years applies as before.
Isn't the disposal deadline shorter in an adjustment target area?
It was a uniform three years after the February 2023 amendment, but a decree promulgated on 30 September 2026 splits it again. For sales on or after 1 October 2026 it is two years only where the old home is in an adjustment target area and the new one, also in such an area, was bought on or after 4 August 2026. Everything else stays three years.
From what date do the three years run?
From the day the new home was acquired. On the acquisition date, not the contract date, and judged in days rather than months. Check it on the property register.
I bought the new home before a year had passed on the old one.
The first condition is not met and the concession does not apply. Where the case falls within the proviso to 소득세법 시행령 제154조제1항 (expropriation, purchase by agreement and the like), the one-year condition does not apply.
Exactly how much does missing the deadline cost?
It depends on the facts. In the example on this page it is ₩204.32M, but it varies with the gain and with the holding and residence periods. Run it again in the calculator on your own figures.
Is the acquisition tax released as well?
Temporary two-home status is also excluded from the acquisition tax surcharge. But acquisition tax and capital gains tax set their conditions under their own statutes, so the periods are not always the same. Check both.
Does this concession cover two homes arising through inheritance?
No. Two homes arising through inheritance, marriage or taking in a parent fall under separate provisions. This calculator does not determine those, so a tax professional should check.
Results are estimates based on the inputs and on the rules as at the stated date. They may differ from a lender's actual assessment, and the rules change often. Take professional advice before any decision that matters.