As of the end of last year, more than half of the owners of houses, mainly domestic apartments, were Chinese. Contrary to concerns, one-homeowners accounted for an overwhelming majority, far exceeding 90%. More than 70% of the houses owned by these foreigners were located in the metropolitan area.
On the other hand, more than half of foreigners who own land in the country were Americans. However, only about 1 in 10 of them were pure foreigners. In other words, it suggests that there are an absolute majority of black-haired foreigners. The land they owned was relatively evenly distributed across the country, including Gyeonggi, Jeonnam, and Gyeongbuk.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced this on the 31st (today) of the ‘Statistics on Land and Housing Ownership by Foreigners’ (hereinafter ‘Statistics on Foreign Ownership’). Statistics related to land owned by foreigners have been disclosed since 1999, right after the opening of the land market in 1998, but this is the first time that statistics related to housing have been released.
This measure was taken in response to the need to manage speculative transactions as house prices have recently skyrocketed and the number of foreigners buying domestic houses has increased significantly. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, 10,145 cases, more than half of the 20,28 housing transactions (including pre-sale rights) conducted nationwide from January 2020 to May 2022, were suspected of speculative transactions.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, as of the end of last year, a total of 81,626 foreigners owned domestic houses. The number of houses owned is 83,512, which is 0.4% of the total number of houses (18.95 million).
By nationality, Chinese were the most numerous at 58.7% (47,912), well over half of all foreigners. It was followed by the United States (21.9%, 17,891 people), Canada (6.0%, 4859 people), Taiwan (3.7%, 2892 people), and Australia (1.8%, 1498 people).
The number of houses owned by nationality also ranked first with 53.8% (44,889 houses), more than half of Chinese. It was followed by the United States (23.9%, 19,923 units), Canada (7.0%, 5810 units), Taiwan (3.9%, 3271 units), and Australia (2.1%, 1740 units).
By housing type, there were 75,959 multi-family housing units, including apartments (50,135 units) and row houses and multi-household units (25,824 units), accounting for 91.0% of the total. The rest were detached houses, multi-family houses, multi-family houses, and mixed-use houses.
As for foreign-owned houses, 73.6% (61,498 houses) of the total were located in the metropolitan area. In particular, 31,582 houses (37.8%) were located in Gyeonggi. Seoul also accounted for a high share of 26.2% (21,882 houses). In non-metropolitan areas, Chungnam ranked first with 5.4% (4518 houses).
Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do, had the most foreign-owned houses with 4,202 houses. It was followed by Ansan Danwon-gu (2549 houses), Pyeongtaek City (2345 houses), Siheung City (2341 houses), and Gangnam-gu, Seoul (2281 houses).
93.5% (76,334 people) of foreigners owning houses in Korea were single-householders, and 5.0% (4121 people) were two-householders. Only 1.4% (1,171 people) owned three or more houses.
As of the end of last year, the land area owned by foreigners was 261.01 million square meters. It is equivalent to 0.4% of the total land area (100,431.85 million square meters).
It also increased by 1.8% (4.6 million m2) compared to the previous year (259.41 million m2). In other words, an area equivalent to 1.6 times the area of Yeouido (2.9 million square meters) has been owned by foreigners.
In terms of foreign land ownership by nationality, Americans accounted for the most with 53.4% (140.95 million square meters) of the total. It was followed by China (7.8%, 20.66 million square meters), Europe (7.2%, 19.03 million square meters), and Japan (6.3%, 16.72 million square meters).
However, when analyzed by subject, Koreans with foreign nationality accounted for 55.8% (147.32 million square meters). Foreign corporations, such as joint ventures, also accounted for 34.1% (89.96 million square meters). On the other hand, pure foreigners accounted for only 9.9% (26.18 million square meters). In the case of land, it is interpreted to mean that black-haired foreign owners occupied the absolute majority.
By region, unlike housing concentrated in the metropolitan area, Gyeonggi (18.4%, 48.62 million ㎡) and Jeonnam (14.8%, 39.16 million ㎡) Gyeongbuk (14.0%, 36.9 million ㎡) Gangwon (9.2%, 24.18 million ㎡) Chungnam (8.6%) 22.69 million ㎡) were evenly distributed.
By use, other land such as forest or land accounted for the most at 67.4% (177.96 million ㎡), followed by factory land (22.4%, 59.04 million ㎡), leisure (4.5%, 11.82 million ㎡) residential land (4.2%, 1102 million ㎡). 10,000 square meters) followed in order.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.