Socioeconomic Status, Housing Outcomes and Residential Assessment of Young One-Person Households

As the number of one-person household has rapidly grown in recent years, the particular household has been largely concentrated on specific two age groups-young people or the elderly. With more attention to young singles aged between 19 and 39 in the housing policy agenda, this research is to explore socioeconomic status, housing outcomes and residential assessment of young one-person households in two distinctive periods and regions. Using the 2008 and 2016 Korea Housing Survey (KHS), the study identified 1,227 households in 2008 and 754 households in 2016. Having been employed t-test, chi-square, factor analysis and multiple regression analysis, this longitudinal study indicated that a vast majority of the respondents were highly educated, salaried workers and tenants residing in small-sized non-apartment housing. In two different periods, their housing cost in Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA) was in inverse proportion to housing size. It's found that both housing satisfaction and overall satisfaction slightly increased in the period and the change was a lot greater in SMA than in non-SMA. The statistical analysis revealed that the determinants of housing and overall satisfactions were satisfactions with residential environment and amenities.