Decrease in Housing Completions and Permits Last Year... Increase in New Sales and Construction Starts

▲ 2019 National Housing Construction Performance Infographic (Provided by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Last year, housing completions (move-ins) decreased by 17% compared to the previous year, and permits also dropped by 11.9%. On the other hand, sales and groundbreaking increased by 11% and 2%, respectively.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 30th, last year's housing completion performance nationwide was 518,084 units, down 17.4% from 626,889 units in 2018. However, considering that the 2018 figure had increased by 10.1% compared to the previous year, it is similar to the recent 5-year average (2014?2018) of 520,000 units.

The decline was particularly noticeable in the metropolitan area. The metropolitan area recorded 264,946 units last year, a 19.4% decrease from the previous year. Especially, Incheon (-34.0%) and Gyeonggi (-23.6%) saw large decreases. Seoul saw a smaller decline of 2.8%, with 75,373 units completed last year. The provinces recorded 253,138 units, down 15.2%.

Last year's housing permit volume also decreased nationwide to 487,975 units, down 11.9% from the previous year. Seoul decreased by 5.3%, and the metropolitan area by 2.8%. The provinces experienced a sharp drop of 21.9%.

On the other hand, last year's housing sales performance increased nationwide to 314,308 units, up 11.1% from the previous year. Seoul saw 30,250 units sold, showing a 36.4% rise. The entire metropolitan area recorded 164,435 units; despite a decrease in Gyeonggi (-11.3%), Incheon's sales volume more than doubled (117.9%) compared to the previous year, resulting in a 10.3% increase overall. The provinces recorded 149,873 units, up 12.0%.

Groundbreaking performance also increased slightly. Last year's housing groundbreaking was 478,949 units, up 1.8% from the previous year. The metropolitan area, including Seoul (3.3%), increased by 8.4% to 279,721 units. However, the provinces decreased by 6.4% to 199,228 units compared to the previous year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.