Proportion of foreign real estate buyers hits record high

Mar 11, 2024, 09:36 am

AsiaToday reporter Jeon Won-joon

The number of properties purchased by foreigners in Korea exceeded 15,000 last year, court data showed Sunday. As foreigners’ purchases of real estate in Korea are increasing, more and more foreigners are making profits from leases. In particular, the number of lease contracts for foreign landlords has reached 4,600 in Seoul.

According to the data from the online real estate registry service run by the Supreme Court, a total of 15,614 foreign nationals completed property purchases in 2023, accounting for a record 0.9 percent of the total land acquisitions.

The percentage of foreign buyers in the real estate market has been on a steady increase since 2010 when the South Korean court started to compile such data. In 2010, foreigners bought 4,307 properties, accounting for only 0.20 percent of all buyers.

However, it reached 0.33 percent in 2014, 0.64 percent in 2018, and 0.75 percent in 2022, and rose to top in 2023.

By country, Chinese people let the hike with 11,384 purchases, accounting for 72.9 percent of all foreign transactions in the country. They were followed by Americans with 7,892, Canadians at 1,627, Taiwanese with 521, and Australians with 510.

By properties, 12,027 foreign buyers opted for collective buildings such as apartments, office buildings, multi-family houses, and shopping centers, accounting for 1.21 percent of all purchasers last year.

The trend for foreign acquisition of collective buildings has been also on the rise, from 0.50 percent in 2015 to 0.89 percent in 2018, and over 1 percent in 2022.

Incheon saw the largest share at 2.09 percent, followed by South Chungcheong Province at 1.74 percent, Gyeonggi Province at 1.68 percent, Jeju Island at 1.53 percent, and North Chungcheong Province at 1.21 percent.

As the number of foreign property transactions increases, more and more foreigners are making profits through leases.

According to the data, there were 17,786 lease agreements with foreign property owners in the past year, marking the highest tally since such records began in 2010.

The number of contracts with foreign property owners exceeded 10,000 for the first time in 2019, and continued to surge to 12,256 in 2021 and 17,488 in 2022.

Seoul topped the chart with the most leases involving foreign landlords at 4,612, followed by Gyeonggi Province with 3,814, Incheon at 499, South Chungcheong Province with 301, and Busan with 296.

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