The amount of property and land owned by foreigners in Korea has inched up this year, with Chinese nationals owning the majority of homes, but Americans owned the majority of land.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport released Friday a report on foreign-owned real estate, which showed that approximately 93,000 foreign nationals owned 95,058 homes in Korea as of the end of June, accounting for 0.49 percent of the total housing stock.
This represents a 3.9 percent increase — by 3,605 homes — over the past six years, with the ownership share rising slightly by 0.01 percentage point from 0.48 percent.
Chinese nationals accounted for the largest share of foreign homeownership in Korea, holding 55.5 percent, or 52,798 homes. The number of homes owned by Chinese nationals increased by 2,470, or 4.9 percent, from six months ago, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the total increase in foreign-owned homes in the first half of this year. The Chinese-owned properties were predominantly located in Bucheon, Ansan and Siheung cities in Gyeonggi Province, part of the Greater Seoul area.
Americans followed taking 22.5 percent share in foreign-owned homes, while Canadians held 6.5 percent, Taiwanese 3.5 percent and Australians 2 percent.
In terms of the location, foreign-owned homes were primarily concentrated in the capital area, with 38.7 percent located in Gyeonggi Province, 24.3 percent in Seoul and 9.9 percent in Incheon.
Most foreign homeowners of 93.4 percent, owned one property, followed by 5.2 percent owning two, and 1.3 percent owning more than three.
The report also revealed that as of June, foreign nationals owned a total of 265.65 square kilometers of land, up 0.4 percent from six months ago and accounting for 0.26 percent of South Korea’s total land area.
The publicly disclosed value of foreign-owned land was approximately 33.2 trillion won ($23.8 billion), reflecting a 0.5 percent increase over the half-year period.
US citizens held the largest share of foreign-owned land, taking 53.3 percent, or 141.55 square meters. The figure increased by 0.3 percent over the past six months. Chinese nationals followed with 7.9 percent, Europeans held 7.1 percent and Japanese nationals owned 6.2 percent.
The majority of foreign-owned land was allocated for forests, farmland and other uses, comprising 67.5 percent. Industrial land accounted for 22.2 percent, followed by recreational land at 4.5 percent and residential land at 4.2 percent.
