In the first half of this year, the number of dwellings in Korea owned by foreigners was estimated at about 104,000. By nationality, Chinese owned the most dwellings. They were followed by the United States, Canada, Taiwan, and Australia in that order in the share of foreign-owned dwellings.
According to foreign-owned land and dwellings statistics released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 28th, as of the end of June, foreigners owned 104,065 dwellings in Korea. This was up 0.15% from December last year.
Foreigners own 0.53% of all dwellings in Korea. The number of foreigners who own dwellings is 102,477.
Foreigners owned more dwellings in the greater Seoul area than in the provinces. The greater Seoul area accounted for 75,484 dwellings (72.5%), and the provinces accounted for 28,581 dwellings (27.5%).
By city and province, Gyeonggi had the most with 40,794 dwellings (39.2%). It was followed by Seoul with 24,186 dwellings (23.2%), Incheon with 10,504 (10.1%), South Chungcheong with 6,455 (6.2%), and Busan with 3,160 (3.0%).
By owner nationality, Chinese accounted for more than half with 58,896 dwellings (56.6%), followed by the United States with 22,455 (21.6%), Canada with 6,433 (6.2%), Taiwan with 3,392 (3.3%), and Australia with 1,959 (1.9%).
By dwelling type, apartments and other multi-unit housing such as row houses and multiplexes accounted for most (95,150 dwellings). Detached houses totaled 8,915.
By number of dwellings owned, one unit was the most common at 95,717 people (93.4%). Owners of two units numbered 5,421 (5.3%), and those with three or more reached 1,399 (1.3%).
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) noted that, considering that on Aug. 21 some areas of the greater Seoul area were designated as foreign land transaction permit zones, the growth rate is expected to decline by the end of the year.
The area of land in Korea owned by foreigners was 268,299,000 square meters, up 0.1% from the end of last year. This is 0.27% of the nation's total area.
The officially assessed value of land owned by foreigners was 33.9976 trillion won, up 1.5% from the end of last year.
By nationality share of land ownership, U.S. nationals held 53.3% of all foreign-owned land, the largest share by nationality. They were followed by China (8.0%), Europe (7.1%), and Japan (6.1%).
By region, Gyeonggi accounted for 18.5%. South Jeolla at 14.7% and North Gyeongsang at 13.5% also had large amounts of land owned by foreigners.
By use of land owned by foreigners, other sites such as forestland and farmland accounted for 67.7%. They were followed by factory sites at 22.0%, leisure sites at 4.4%, and residential sites at 4.3%.
By type of foreign landholder, overseas Koreans with foreign nationality accounted for 55.4%, foreign corporations 33.6%, pure foreigners 10.7%, and governments and organizations 0.2%.