The government's caps on mortgage availability have hit first-time buyers, particularly those looking to buy in affluent areas.
政府對獲得貸款的限制打擊了首次購房者,尤其是那些希望在富裕地區購房的人。
The government says it wants to help "end-users" of apartments and punish "speculators",
政府表示希望幫助公寓“終端用戶”,處罰“投機者”,
says Song In-ho of the Korea Development Institute, a think-tank. But its attempts to deter the latter have also hurt the former.
智囊團韓國發展研究院的Song In-ho說到。但其阻止后者的努力也傷害了前者。
The discontent is exacerbated by the peculiarities of the rental market. Two-fifths of people living in Seoul own their homes; the rest are tenants.
租賃市場的獨特性加劇了這種不滿。首爾五分之二的人擁有自己的房屋,剩下的都是租客。
Because South Koreans tend to invest the bulk of their savings in property,
因為韓國人傾向于將大部分儲蓄投資于房地產,
four-fifths of landlords are other private households rather than corporations or public institutions,
五分之四的房東都是其他私人戶主,而不是房產公司或公共機構,
compared with nearly two-thirds in Japan and just over half in Britain.
日本的這一比例將近三分之二,應該略高于二分之一。
Roughly half of all tenancies are based on a unique system known as jeonse, or "key money".
大約有一半的租約是基于一種獨特的系統,稱為長期租約,或“關鍵錢”。
Under a jeonse contract, the tenant pays the landlord a deposit of between 60% and 80% of the purchase price to live rent-free for two years.
根據長期租約,租戶需要房東支付購房價格60%至80%的押金,以換取兩年的免租金生活。

The deposits have helped landlords finance further property purchases.
這筆押金為房東進一步購買房產提供了資金。
But they make it hard for anyone without the savings to find anywhere affordable to live, even if they rent.
但對于沒有積蓄的人來說,即使他們租房,也很難找到能負擔得起的地方居住。
Seoul may seem cheaper than cities such as London or Hong Kong when prices are compared to incomes. But it is less affordable than it looks.
從房價與收入的比較來看,首爾似乎比倫敦或香港等城市要便宜。但并沒有看上去的那么容易負擔。
There are other strains. Household debt is high, having risen rapidly in the past.
還有其他壓力。家庭債務很高,在過去增長迅速。
"The economy as a whole is far too exposed to the property market," reckons Hahm Joon-ho,
Hahm Joon-ho認為,“整體經濟受房地產市場影響較大,”
a former member of the Bank of Korea's monetary-policy board now at Yonsei University in Seoul. "If prices fell suddenly, it would be very bad."
他是曾是韓國央行貨幣政策委員會的成員,現就職于首爾延世大學。“如果房價突然下跌,將會造成嚴重后果。”
In the short term, then, the government's inability to bring down prices may be no bad thing.
在短期內,政府沒能力降低房價或許不是件壞事。
No one wants to see a sudden house-price crash at a time when the economy is already suffering a pandemic-induced slowdown.
經濟已經遭受了疫情導致的放緩,此時,沒人希望看到房價突然崩潰。
The economic fallout from the virus could curtail household incomes.
疫情對經濟的影響可能會縮減家庭收入。
That might delay the economic recovery as people cut back on their spending in order to service their loans, although interest-rate cuts should provide some relief.
這可能會推遲經濟復蘇,因為人們會削減支出以償還貸款,盡管減息應該會起到一定的緩解作用。
In the longer term, though, the problem of affordability will have to be dealt with.
不過,從長期來看,負擔能力的問題必須得到解決。
Increasing supply is likely to be a much more promising way of bringing house prices down than intricate policy interventions, says Mr Hahm.
相比錯綜復雜的政策干預手段,增加供應可能是一種更有效的降低房價的方法,Hahm說到。
There is no sign that Seoul will become less attractive as a place to live, or that prospective homeowners will become less exacting in their tastes.
沒有跡象表明,首爾作為一個居住地的吸引力將會減弱,也沒有跡象表明未來的房主將會在品味上變得不那么挑剔。
"More and more people want to live in high-quality apartments. Seoul does not have enough of those—and so we need to build more."
“越來越多的人想要住在高品質公寓中。首爾沒有充足的高質量公寓——因此,我們需要建造更多。”
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