Golf Membership Price to Rise 3.5%

The National Tax Service (NTS) has increased its tax-basing estimate of the standard prices of golf club memberships nationwide by an average of 3.5 percent from last August as more golfers purchase memberships, pushing up market prices.

The tax agency said Tuesday that it had raised its assessed-prices of 312 memberships at 159 golf courses across the country by 8.5 million won on average. The agency imposes transactions, capital gains, and other taxes on golf membership based on its standardized price that reflects about 90 percent of the market price.

The price hike comes five months after it increased its golf membership standard price by 5.6 percent.

``We have decided to increase our standard price estimates for golf membership in line with rising market prices as more people have begun golfing and bought memberships amid the increasing adoption of a five-day work week,’’ an NTS official said.

He said membership prices have also shown an upward curve over the past year because people snatch up golf memberships, mostly in and around Seoul, as a means of investment, following a series of government anti-speculation measures on the real estate market.

Membership prices at 73 golf clubs in Kyonggi Province jumped 6.4 percent on average from five months ago, The prices of a membership in the Namboo Country Club in Yongin, south of Seoul, the most expensive in Korea, rose to 1.32 billion won from 1.3 billion won last August.

Membership prices at 13 golf courses in Kangwon Province rose an average of 6.1 percent, while those at 14 golf clubs on Cheju Island fell 2.8 percent because of the opening of new courses last year.

By Lee Hyo-sik