SEOUL: A downturn in South Korea's home prices is causing pain in the country's unusual rent-free rental system that benefited landlords and tenants alike during a long surge in residential property prices. Yoo Ha-jin, 28, regrets not getting insurance for her jeonse deposit when she signed in March 2021. "I thought I would be just fine as long as I could get a jeonse deposit loan from the bank," Yoo told Reuters. Financial authorities are working closely with other agencies to support jeonse tenants and landlords having difficulty with refunds, said an official at the Financial Services Commission. Jeonse deposit loans more than quadrupled in less than six years through October to 172 trillion won (US$132 billion), according to the central bank.
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