SEOUL (REUTERS) - South Korea's finance ministry said on Friday (July 10) that the government will raise the real estate tax rate on multiple home-owners to as much as 6 per cent a year.

The ministry said in a statement it would also raise capital gains tax rates by up to 70 per cent for those selling homes after owning them for less than a year, and will impose up to 30 percentage points more on top of the basic tax rate on multiple home-owners.

The measure comes after the ministry said earlier in the day that it would further tighten property market rules and impose heavier taxes on multiple homeowners as more than 20 rounds of cooling measures introduced in the past three years had failed to calm runaway home prices.

Anger over South Korea's failure to calm runaway home prices has spilled onto top government officials with multiple residences, who are under pressure to sell their second homes to show they are committed to the policy drive.

The policy has focused on imposing heavier tax penalties and mortgage curbs for multiple home owners, as the left-leaning government increasingly blamed renters for stoking a housing bubble.

But as median apartment price in Seoul surged more than 50 per cent through such curbs in the past three years, pressure to unload extra homes has seen top government officials racing to sell their second residences.

Finance minister Hong hastily posted a Facebook message on Thursday: "I put up (my apartment) on sale."

"As a cabinet member, I'm deeply ashamed of myself in front of fellow citizens, and my acquaintances, amid controversy over multiple homes owned by public servants. To become a single-home owner, I am selling my apartment in Uiwang where I have been with my family."