[알쓸부잡]Are you canceling the subscription account when the ‘lottery sale’ disappears?

‘You say you don’t need a subscription passbook for unranked subscriptions? Furthermore, the pre-sale price is high, so will there be a need to use a subscription bankbook in the future?’

If you have a subscription passbook, you must have experienced this problem at least once. In fact, it is said that since the second half of last year, the number of subscription bankbook cancellations has increased and the subscription deposit has also decreased. This is the so-called ‘subscription passbook useless theory’.

Experts are sorry for this kind of ‘cheong-Yag Bankbook useless theory’. The subscription passbook is an explanation that you will need it someday. In particular, when subscribing to a new home, it is necessary to fill in the ‘subscription passbook subscription period, number of deposits’, etc.

In addition, as the government recently eased real estate regulations, it is advised that multi-homed people and residents of other regions can use subscription bankbooks. Would it be better to cancel the subscription passbook? Would it be better to leave it like this?

Subscription passbook deposit reduced by 5 trillion over 6 months

Recently, as a result of analyzing the data received from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport by the office of Congressman Yang Gyeong-sook of the Democratic Party of Korea, the total number of subscribers to subscription accounts nationwide was counted as 27,739,232 last month. After peaking at the end of June last year (28,599,279), a total of 860,047 (3%) decreased over the past 7 months.

The number of people who canceled the subscription passbook was more than the number of people who applied for a new one. The deposit of the subscription account also decreased by 5.2028 trillion won (4.9%) from last July (105.3877 trillion won) to 100.1849 trillion won in January of this year.

The ‘subscription bankbook uselessness’ seems to be growing as unsold sales intensify. The attractiveness of subscription bankbooks has fallen as a large number of ‘non-ranked subscriptions’, which allow new apartments to be sold without subscription bankbooks, have been released in the metropolitan area.

As the selling price increased, the merit of the private subscription itself also decreased. According to Real Estate R114, the sale price per 3.3㎡ of apartments in Seoul last year was 34.74 million won, which is 25% more expensive than in 2021 (27.98 million won).

To make matters worse, on the 3rd of last month, the government lifted all real estate regulatory areas except for the 3 districts of Gangnam (Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa-gu) and Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and private residential land was no longer subject to the sale price ceiling. It is highly likely that the private subscription sale price will rise further for the time being.

Existing house prices are falling, but the pre-sale price is rising, so it seems unnecessary to maintain a subscription bankbook.

Moreover, the fact that the subscription interest rate is low in the era of high interest rates is also considered a disadvantage. Recently, the interest rate of subscription bankbooks is around 1.3~2.1% per annum, which is lower than deposits and installment savings of commercial banks. According to the National Bank Federation on the 21st, the interest rates for major deposit products of the five commercial banks (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, NH Nonghyup) are between 3.5 and 3.65%.

Should I cancel the subscription passbook? The expert answer is ‘NO’Experts generally recommend maintaining a subscription bankbook. As real estate prices have recently fallen, new construction prices seem relatively high, but this is not the case when the real estate market rebounds. It is explained that the value of the ‘mokhin’ subscription passbook increases in order to receive a relatively cheap new sale.

Park Ji-min, CEO of the Monthly Subscription Research Institute, said, “For the first subscription, the subscription period must be more than one year.”

The basic conditions for applying for the 1st priority subscription are the ‘subscription account subscription period and deposit’. In non-regulated areas, you must sign up for a subscription account for 1 year (6 months in non-metropolitan areas), and for more than 2 years in speculative overheated districts. In order to subscribe to the exclusive 85㎡, the deposit must be 2 to 3 million won or more depending on the region.

If you challenge the additional point system, the ‘subscription passbook subscription period’ becomes more important. When new private housing apartments are sold, winners are selected through an additional point system and a lottery system depending on whether or not they are in a regulated area. In the case of the additional point system, there is a score difference of 1 point when the subscription period is less than 6 months and 17 points when the subscription period is more than 15 years.

For national housing of less than 85㎡ for exclusive use supplied by Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), winners are selected through a ‘sequential ranking system’. It is a format in which the total amount of savings or the number of payments in the subscription account is drawn in order of greatest number.

As the government lifted real estate regulations one after another, the use of subscription bankbooks has also increased. In overheated speculation districts or areas subject to adjustment, only non-homeowners or single-homeowners residing in the area can apply as the first priority.

Recently, areas except for Gangnam District 3 and Yongsan-gu have been lifted from the regulated area, opening a way for multi-homed people to subscribe. This is because in non-regulated areas, even if you own multiple houses, you can apply for the first priority. ▷Related article: From the 5th, all regulatory areas except Gangnam 3-gu and Yongsan will be lifted (January 3)

The subscription passbook is also useful for public sales where the pre-sale price ceiling system is applied. In the case of new housing in public housing, it is explained that the price merit is sufficient as it can be sold at about 70% of the nearby market price.

Song Seung-hyeon, CEO of City and Economy, said, “Whether or not to cancel the subscription bankbook should be decided according to the financial situation of the person,” but “in the future, it will be possible to use the subscription bankbook for low-priced public sales or low-price private sales.”

If you need a large amount of money and want to cancel the subscription bankbook, advice is also given to use the subscription bankbook mortgage loan.

Yeo Kyung-hee, senior researcher at Real Estate R114, said, “If you use the subscription bankbook mortgage loan, the interest on the loan will go out, but there is an advantage in maintaining the subscription period.”