GRE阅读练习：韩国住房市场多轨并行

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MOST South Korean urbanites would leap at the chance to part with $150,000 to rent a smallish flat for three years in Seoul, the capital.

大多数韩国城市居民可能利用这一机会放弃在其首都首尔以150,000美元的价格租住一间小型公寓三年。

These days, however, most Korean landlords would spurn such a measly deposit.

然而，近日大多数韩国的房东可能摒弃这一少得可怜的保证金。

Korea's unusual rental system, known as jeonse, does not involve monthly rental payments.

韩国特殊的租房系统，被称为Jeonse，并不支持付月租。

Instead, tenants provide landlords with a deposit, typically between a quarter and half of the property's value, to invest for the duration of the lease.

相反，房客向房东提供一笔保证金，保证金的数额一般在房产价值的四分之一到一半，让他们在租期进行投资。

Property owners keep the returns and then repay the lump sum at the end of the tenancy.

房产所有者保存收益并在租期结束后，退还总额。

Average deposits have now risen for 76 consecutive weeks in Korea, the longest streak ever.

韩国平均保证金现在已经连续上升了76周，这是有史以来历时最长的增长。

Thousands of jeonse leases in the capital are now as high as 90% of the value of the house; they sometimes exceed it in areas where property prices have fallen since leases were agreed.

在首都成千上万的Jeonse 租约价值现在高达房屋价值的90%，在有些房价下降的地区，他们有时候超过这个比例，因为租约在过去已经达成。

The jeonse system was once prized by both tenants and landlords.

Jeonse体系曾广受租客和房东的赞誉。

In the 1960s rapid urbanisation drew farmers to Korea's thriving cities, boosting demand for homes at a time when capital was being mobilised for state-led industrial development.

在1960年，高速的城市化促使农民前往新兴城市，对房屋的需求在资本因为政府主导的工业发展而被调动起来时呈现爆炸性的增长。

The government thought property unproductive, so restricted banks from lending to developers, homeowners and tenants, says Son Jae-young, a professor of real estate at Konkuk University in Seoul.

首尔建国大学不动产方面的Son Jae-young教授这样说道：政府认为房产对于生产力发展增益不大，因此限制银行向开发商、房屋所有人和租客贷款。

In response jeonse emerged as a self-help funding mechanism.

Jeonse 体系因此衍生为一个自助融资机制。

Tenants' deposits financed landlords' properties, interest-free, while pushing renters to pool savings: over time, the deposit would become their own home-purchase fund. For decades, monthly rental was synonymous with poverty.

租客的保证金增长了房东的财产，而且没有利息，同时促使租房者积蓄存款;随着时间的发展，这些保证金会成为他们自己的购房基金。在过去的几十年时间里，付月租是贫穷的代名词。

Yet interest rates and property prices have sunk since 2008.

然而利率以及房价自从2008年开始已经下降。

To earn a decent return on their investments, landlords have been raising jeonse prices.

为了赢取一个可观的投资回报，房主一直在提高 Jeonse的价格。

Tenants have tended to take out low-interest loans to cover the hike.

房客趋向于用低息贷款来支付不断攀高的价格。

Since 2009 such borrowing has almost doubled, from 33.5 trillion won to 60 trillion won, according to the Bank of Korea, the central bank.

根据韩国中央银行—韩国银行的统计，自2009年以来，这样的借款几乎加倍，从33.5万亿韩元(31.5亿美元)增长到了60万亿韩元。

That undermines one of the main advantages of this unusual system.

该举削弱了这个独特系统的一个主要优势。

Previously the large cash deposits that tenants had to build up helped shelter the Korean property market from bubbles, by restraining price increases, and from busts, by providing buyers with ready pots of cash.

之前租客累积的大额现金保证金通过限制价格上涨避免韩国房产市场的泡沫并通过为卖方提供大量准备的现金防止破产。

It also helped protect the banking system from losses on risky mortgages.

它也有助于保护银行系统，免受高风险抵押贷款的威胁。

Long considered a deal between individuals, the deposits are still not included in Korea's household debt statistics, nor in calculations of average loan-to-value ratios.

因为长期以来被认为是个体间的交易，这项保证金既不被纳入韩国家庭债务统计，也不被用于计算平均住房担保贷款率中。

Central bank data on jeonse loans only go back to 2009.

中央银行有关jeonse贷款的数据只能追溯到2009年。

But Sun Dae-in, the author of a recent book on Korea's housing market, says the deposits held by landlords must be seen as debts.

但是，近期出版的有关韩国住房市场一书的作者Sun Dae-in 这样说道：被房东持有的保证金必须被视作为债务。

He estimates that about half of all jeonse money is used to finance a second or third property.

他估计大约一半的Jeonse被用作购进第二或第三处房产。

If added to housing loans, the average LTV ratio would jump from just under 50% to over 75%.

如果增加到住房贷款，平均住房担保贷款 比率会从低于50%的水平攀升至超过75%。

Last November the Bank of Korea estimated that a tenth of Korea's 3.7m jeonse landlords may find it hard to repay tenants' deposits.

上个十一月份，韩国银行估计370万 Jeonse房东的十分之一或许会发现支付租客的保证金有困难。

Already more landlords are choosing to rent their properties for a monthly fee: 40% did so last year, up from 34% in 2012.

已经有越来越多的房东选择按月费的方式来出租他们的房产。

But some homeowners would rather not ditch jeonse entirely: more than a quarter are using its hefty sums to pay off a mortgage on the rented property, according to the Bank of Korea.

但是一些房屋所有者不愿意完全放弃Jeonse：根据韩国银行的数据，超过四分之一的人正通过其庞大的总量来偿还抵押他们已经出租的房产的贷款。

They often offer tenants the option to substitute a monthly payment for an increase in the deposit.

他们通常提供租客用月付方式来替代保证金的增长的选择。

A hybrid system, still unique to Korea, is taking root.

一个依然有着韩国特色的混合系统正在生根发芽。

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