[hocuspocus]

> Jeonse is far less than the amount required to buy a place

That depends on interest rates. I lived in Korea between 2010 and 2015 and in the end jeonse really didn't make sense anymore. I had a German coworker who went straight from company paid housing to buying his own place after two years, which is not easy as a foreigner. I regret not doing the same. Of course if you look at the higher end of the market, the relative difference can still be fairly substantial. But I lived in an area where you could buy an apartment for say 200M KRW while the jeonse would be 190.