Seoul Named Top City for 'Forever Renters' as Global Housing Costs Skyrocket

A new global housing report from BC.GAME reveals that the traditional "buy-versus-rent" financial model has flipped in major international hubs, with Seoul emerging as the world's most rent-friendly city. For fintech professionals tracking consumer debt and mortgage demand, this shift signals a long-term move toward "forever renting" as homeownership premiums reach unsustainable levels in high-interest environments.

What was announced

The September 2026 housing report by BC.GAME analyzes the long-term financial consequences of renting versus buying across major international markets, concluding that the era of affordable homeownership has largely ended in tier-one cities. The study found that in Seoul, South Korea, it would take 357 years of monthly rent payments to equal the cost of purchasing a home. This makes renting the most viable long-term living option in that geography, as the cost of a purchase effectively spans more than three lifetimes.

The research identifies Paris, France, as the world’s largest rental market, with 17.6 thousand available places to live. However, the financial barrier to entry for buyers remains extreme in other European hubs; in Zurich, Switzerland, a 90-square-meter house now costs nearly $2.5 million. To assess the "forever renting" phenomenon, the report calculated the number of years of renting required to match an average real estate purchase price and compared those figures against average net salaries. The data highlights a global trend where real estate prices have grown by 20% over the last decade. The disparity is particularly sharp in the United States, where monthly mortgage payments have become 20% higher than median rent this year, a gap that the report notes is even wider in cities such as Vienna, Tokyo, and Paris.

"In most of the 2010s, buying was cheaper than renting in the majority of global markets. That's no longer true. Just this year, monthly mortgage payments in the US became 20% higher than median rent, and in cities like Paris, Vienna, and Tokyo, the gap is wider still. The homeownership premium built into the traditional buy-versus-rent calculation assumed low rates and moderate house prices. Neither of those conditions holds anymore, and cities with stable renting cultures were better positioned for this shift than markets where renting was always treated as a temporary inconvenience."

The CEO of BC Games.

The companies involved

BC.GAME is an organization operating at the intersection of digital finance, community-driven data, and the blockchain ecosystem. While the company is frequently associated with gaming and decentralized networks, it has expanded its scope to provide data-driven insights into global economic trends, such as the shifting dynamics of the international real estate market. The company’s focus on digital assets and decentralized finance places it in a unique position to observe how traditional asset classes, like property, are becoming less accessible to the average consumer, driving interest in alternative wealth-building strategies.

Operating in a global market where traditional financial structures are being challenged by high interest rates and inflation, BC.GAME’s research into "forever renting" reflects a broader institutional interest in how demographic shifts affect liquidity and consumer spending. By mapping the rental pressures in cities like Seoul and Zurich, the company provides a look at the barriers to entry for traditional homeownership. This data is increasingly relevant as the fintech sector seeks to understand the long-term financial behaviors of a generation that may never enter the mortgage market, instead relying on digital-first financial tools and rental-based lifestyles.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has previously covered BC.GAME’s activities within the digital asset space, particularly its moves to integrate emerging blockchain technologies into its platform. In July 2026, the publication reported that BC.GAME Integrates CASHCAT Token Amid Surging Robinhood Chain Activity. This integration occurred during a period of significant growth for the Robinhood chain, highlighting BC.GAME’s strategy of aligning with high-activity networks and expanding its utility within the crypto-fintech ecosystem. This prior coverage underscores the company's technical evolution and its role in facilitating transactions within decentralized environments, which serves as a backdrop to its current interest in global economic data and housing affordability.

What this means

The findings in this report suggest a fundamental breakdown in the traditional mortgage-led growth model that has defined the retail banking sector for decades. When renting becomes a "three-lifetime" financial decision in cities like Seoul, the demand for traditional mortgage products is likely to face sustained downward pressure. This shift places significant strain on traditional lenders who rely on home loans as their primary anchor product. The industry must now grapple with a reality where "forever renting" is a mathematical necessity for many, opening a massive gap for fintech innovation around rental security, tenant-focused credit building, and alternative equity-free investment vehicles that replace the home as a primary store of wealth.