2009/06/07

Western-style Single Homes in South Korea (II)

After crossing the street, dividing 'Angol Village 2' and Baengnyeonggol' by riding on a bicycle, I came across more than a dozen single homes, mostly made of wood. And some houses are still under construction.
Owners of those houses seemed to be retired or semi-retired middle-aged couples in their 50's or 60's because, otherwise, it would not easy for them to commute to and from workplaces located in big cities like Seoul, Incheon or it's vicinities through the New Airport Bridge which connects the island to the main land, leaving the toll rate of 3,600 Won per one-way trip to Incheon and 7,400 Won per one-way trip to Seoul aside.
In most cases, as fas as I know, the construction materials of those single homes are imported, primarily from North America, because domestic suppliers are not afford to produce the quality goods at the competitive prices due to the so-called economy of scale by the poor demand across the country in South Korea.
But it's not necessarily mean that South Korean people prefer condominiums, apartments or villas to single homes. In fact, many people in this country have dreams to live in 'white houses on the hill' sometime in the future. The problem is that they can not afford to make their dreams come true because the appropriate sites to build the dream houses are too expensive to buy, and also they are too busy to take time to prepare any detailed scheme.

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