For the first time, foreign ownership of homes in South Korea has exceeded 100,000 units, with Chinese nationals owning 56% of them.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport released the latest statistics on foreign-held housing and land as of the end of last year on 30th.
As of December 2023, foreigners owned 102,160 homes in South Korea, an increase of 5,158 units (5.4%) from six months earlier. Foreign-owned homes now account for 0.52% of the country’s total housing supply.
The number of foreign homeowners stood at 98,581.
By nationality, Chinese nationals owned the most homes at 56,301 units (56.2%), up 3,503 from six months prior. This means Chinese buyers accounted for 68% of the total increase in foreign-owned homes in the second half of last year. The share of Chinese-owned homes has been steadily rising, from 55.0% in June 2023 to 55.5% by December.
Americans came in second with 22,031 homes (22.0%), followed by Canadians with 6,315 units (6.3%).
The majority of foreign-owned homes were apartments or other multi-unit dwellings (91,518 units), while single-family homes accounted for 8,698 units.
About 72.7% of foreign-owned homes were located in the Seoul metropolitan area. Gyeonggi Province had the highest number at 39,144 units (39.1%), followed by Seoul with 23,741 units (23.7%) and Incheon with 9,983 units (10.0%). By city and district, Bucheon (5,203 units), Ansan (5,033 units), Suwon (3,429 units), and Pyeongtaek (2,984 units) had the highest foreign ownership.
Among foreign homeowners, 93.4% owned just one property, while 5.3% (5,182 individuals) owned two homes. Another 640 owned three homes, 209 owned four, and 461 owned five or more.
Foreign investors held 66,200 acres(103 square miles) of South Korean land as of late 2023 – a 1.2% annual increase. This accounts for 0.27% of the country’s total land area. The combined official assessed value of foreign-held land was $24.4 billion, up 1.4% from a year earlier.
Foreign land ownership saw high growth rates in 2014 and 2015, but the pace slowed in 2016 and has since maintained a gradual increase.
By nationality, Americans owned the largest share of foreign-held land at 53.5%, followed by Chinese (7.9%), Europeans (7.1%), and Japanese (6.1%). The land area owned by Americans and Chinese increased by 1.5% and 2.0%, respectively, from the previous year.
Regionally, 18.5% of foreign-owned land was in Gyeonggi Province, followed by South Jeolla Province (14.7%) and North Gyeongsang Province (13.6%).
Among foreign landowners, 55.6% were ethnic Koreans with foreign citizenship, while foreign corporations accounted for 33.7% and non-Korean foreigners made up 10.5%.
