Samsung's Lee owns homes worth W26b

KOREA - Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee owns the most expensive houses among the nation's top 50 business leaders, data showed Monday.

Lee owns three homes in Seoul's Itaewon, Samseong and Seocho areas, whose combined value stood at 26.31 billion won (S$24.32 million) last year, according to Chaebul.com, a conglomerate-tracking website.

Lee is followed by Shin Choon-ho, chairman of food giant Nongshim Group, who has two houses together worth 8.57 billion won (S$9.8 million).

The two top owners, Lee and Shin, were once involved in a dispute in 2005 over the view obstruction of their adjacent Itaewon houses near the Han River.

Hur Young-in, chairman of SPC Group, a leading food firm with bakery brand Paris Baguette, is ranked third with 8.11 billion won (S$9.23 million). Next to him is Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo, who owns two houses with a total value of 6.67 billion won (S$7.6 million).

The combined home price of the nation's top 50 chaebol owners was 219.2 billion won (S$250 million) last year. The figure compares to the average transaction price of apartments in Seoul at 365 million won (S$416,000).

Chaebul.com said the actual value of chaebol executives' houses could surge considering their declared prices represent only 80 per cent of the transaction prices on average.

Of the total 78 houses, 59 are in Seoul north of the Han River, 18 are in southern Seoul and 1 is in Gyeonggi Province.