New data shows that only three in 100 houses in Seoul could be purchased by median income earners despite a recent drop in housing prices driven by inflation-discouraged real estate investment.

According to the Korea Housing-Finance Corporation on Monday, the home purchase index nationwide stood at 47 last year, up by two-point-four points from a year earlier.

Measured on a scale of one to 100, the index shows the financial availability of houses for the median income bracket, representing how many out of every 100 houses they can afford.

By region, however, there was a significant disparity with the index in Seoul standing at three, which means such earners in the capital can buy only three out of every 100 houses in the city, even with the help of loans commensurate with their net assets and incomes.

It was significantly higher a decade earlier at 32-point-five before falling consecutively in the following years.

Gyeonggi Province had the second-lowest index last year at 33-point-five, followed by Incheon at 39-point-seven, Busan at 44-point-six and Jeju at 47-point-four.