'Recession in Gyeonggi'... Last Year's Forced Real Estate Auctions Reach Six-Year High

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Last year, forced real estate auctions reached their highest level in six years.

According to the '2020 Judicial Yearbook' published by the court on the 6th, the number of forced real estate auctions filed with the court last year was 35,753 cases, marking the highest level in six years since 2013 (36,888 cases).

The increase rate is also significant. It rose by 5,151 cases (16.8%) compared to last year (30,602 cases), recording the largest increase in 15 years since 2004, when it increased by 8,127 cases (24.3%) year-on-year.

Forced real estate auctions peaked in 2008 (44,872 cases) during the global financial crisis when the economy was in recession, and then steadily declined. Although there were slight increases in 2012 and 2015, the growth rates were only 3.6% and 1.5%, respectively.

Voluntary real estate auctions also increased significantly. Forced auctions are a system where creditors request auctions based on a final judgment. In contrast, voluntary auctions are based on collateral rights and allow priority repayment without a final judgment. Voluntary real estate auctions last year totaled 45,655 cases, an increase of 7,456 cases from the previous year (38,199 cases), showing the largest increase in 15 years, similar to forced auctions.

The surge in real estate auctions is interpreted as a result of the real estate market contraction due to the ongoing economic recession combined with policy impacts such as loan regulations. In addition, with an increase in forced management of claims, civil enforcement cases last year totaled 1,109,849 cases, about 40,000 cases more than the previous year (1,064,189 cases).

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