Minister Kim Yun-duk of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport emphasized that "public interest and misunderstandings about foreigners' real estate ownership have been growing recently," and said the public should be briefed through more accurate and concrete statistics.
The Minister stated accordingly to Son Tae-rak, head of the Korea Real Estate Board (REB), during a meeting to receive work reports from 39 agencies under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) at the Government Complex Sejong on the afternoon of the 13th.
The Minister said, "As interest grows, there are also many misunderstandings and a lot of unfounded talk, such as claims that Chinese people are sweeping up Gangnam apartments," adding, "Because the statistical data are not captured in detail, we will actively cooperate so that more accurate statistics can be produced." In response, Son said, "We will move quickly to straighten this out."
In response to the Minister's question, "How are the statistics related to foreigners' real estate ownership compiled and released?" Son said, "Currently, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) handles the status of land holdings, and the Korea Real Estate Board handles the status of dwellings. Because the statistics themselves are limited to fragmentary items such as nationality and region, there has been ongoing criticism that they are not specific."
Son added, "So we are conducting a research project now," and emphasized, "Soon, in consultation with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), we are preparing to create more composite, more detailed statistics by region, by type, by nationality, or whether ownership is newly by corporation or individual, or by age group."
Son added, "If possible, there is also an opinion that we should integrate the status of land holdings, which MOLIT handles, and the status of dwellings, which the Korea Real Estate Board aggregates, and handle them together at the Korea Real Estate Board, so we will continue to consult with MOLIT working-level officials on the integration."