A young couple in their 30s, surnamed Lee and Park, exhausted from enduring persistent noise from neighbors above, is hunting for a new place to live. But even as they search, they are hesitant. Moving into another apartment means facing the same uncertainty: Who lives upstairs? What kind of neighbors will they encounter? Their concerns reflect a common dilemma in South Korea, where apartment complexes dominate urban living, making up 62.9 percent of all housing types.

Living in high-rise apartments often comes with challenges. Conflicts with neighbors -- whether over noise, shared spaces or any number of grievances -- are reported by 75 percent of apartment dwellers, according to a 2023 report by the Architecture and Urban Research Institute, a government-affiliated research body.

The COVID-19 pandemic further amplified the significance of home as more people spent extended hours indoors.

"With more time spent at home due to COVID-19, the significance of the home as a ‘living space’ has been highlighted, and its value has shifted to focus on the quality of the residential environment," said Seong Eun-young, the head of AURI’s research group on residential space.

“We noticed individuals began investing more into their living spaces, even in smaller, rental homes. This trend is particularly noticeable among young people who are unable to afford purchasing homes and seek customized rental solutions that better suit their lifestyles."

Exploring diverse housing demands

In 2022, AURI embarked on a three-year phased study to better understand the evolving housing needs here. While the COVID-19 pandemic hasn't yet created a full-fledged turning point, it has certainly highlighted the need to rethink how we define and meet diverse housing demands.

“It seems that most people are still unaware. In a housing market where apartments dominate, it is challenging to find diverse housing options or living spaces,” Seong said.

This reality underscores the study’s central aim -- rethinking the questions we ask and the methods we use to identify and address these unmet needs.

The institute surveyed 2,000 urban dwellers, examining their housing histories, lifestyle characteristics and evolving values.

The team focused on the 37.1 percent of all households that choose alternatives to apartments, moving beyond an “average life” defined by roughly 84-square-meter cookie-cutter spaces, to live in multi-family units or single-family homes. Through in-depth interviews, the researchers explored how these individuals combine their living spaces with their lifestyles, often driven by a desire to carve out paths that deviate from standardized apartment culture.

The research also highlighted that various factors, such as the growing elderly population, the rise of single-person households, changing values around family size and composition, technological advances, and broader societal shifts, have led to increasingly diversified housing demands.

“We could say the individuals we met for the in-depth interviews are at the forefront of diverse housing demands. If the standardized urban lifestyle revolves around the 84-square-meter apartments commonly sought in big cities, these people represent a meaningful shift, pioneering new ways of living alongside the emergence of new housing cultures,” said Seong.

Towards demand-driven housing culture

The evolving nature of personal lifestyles and the rise of individuality have emphasized the need for housing designs that not only support autonomy, but also foster connections within communities such as shared housing or collective housing, according to the study.

Treehouse in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, exemplifies this trend by combining private living quarters with shared spaces such as sunlit lounges, communal laundry facilities and rooftop barbecue areas. Residents, often with similar values and interests, find a sense of belonging while also enjoying diverse activities and control over their living environment.

Some people are exploring second homes in rural areas for part-time living, spending weekdays in cities and weekends in the countryside. Programs offering short-term stays in rural villages, such as Farmfra Village in South Gyeongsang Province, allow people to try alternative lifestyles for a week or month.

There is also housing focused on specific values or lifestyles. Examples include agricultural communities, retirement villages centered around religious affiliations such as Sanus Hill in Gangwon Province, and pet-friendly estates like Kansas Mansion in Dongdaemun-gu, which caters to animal lovers. Borin House in Geumcheon district is a specialized public housing project designed for seniors aged 65 and older who live alone.

“The examples we’ve introduced -- individuals creating unique spaces and redefining their lifestyles -- are quite exceptional cases. Not everyone has the capacity or is willing to pioneer such paths,” Seong explained.

"We're not saying that apartments are inherently bad, but we hope to share these diverse examples so that individuals can see new possibilities for their future lifestyles. This could serve as motivation, showing that 'I can do this too,'" Seong added.

Creating living conditions that meet these emerging demands requires a paradigm shift in how people view “housing” -- shifting the focus from its market value to the value it offers as a “place to live,” along with policies that support such a paradigm shift. This approach can improve housing quality and living standards, ultimately contributing to the development of a demand-driven housing culture.

"For the housing market to evolve, there needs to be clear evidence of demand. Our research, in essence, is about identifying these gaps and raising awareness about these unmet needs."

This article is the fifth and the last in a series exploring diversity in housing in South Korea. --Ed.