According to a report by Yonhap News Agency on March 10th, data from the South Korean court’s property registration website showed that in 2023, over 15,000 foreign nationals applied for property ownership transfers in South Korea after purchasing real estate, accounting for 0.9% of all property registrations. The number of foreigners earning rental income is also increasing.
When the collection of such data began in 2010, only 4,307 foreigners purchased properties in South Korea, making up just 0.2% of total buyers. However, this number has been rising annually since 2014, reaching a new high last year. Among foreign buyers, mainland Chinese accounted for the largest group at 113,840 or 72.9%. They were followed by Americans (7,892), Canadians (1,627), Taiwanese (521), and Australians (510).
By property type, 12,027 foreigners purchased multi-family housing units, comprising 1.21% of all such buyers. The city of Incheon had the highest proportion of foreign-purchased multi-family housing units at 2.09%, followed by South Chungcheong (1.74%), Gyeonggi (1.68%), Jeju (1.53%), and North Chungcheong (1.21%).
As foreign ownership of Korean properties increases, more foreigners are earning rental income. In 2023, 17,786 rental contracts were signed by foreign landlords, the highest number since collection of such statistics began in 2010.
Source: Sputnik News, March 10, 2024
https://sputniknews.cn/20240310/1057570944.html