34% of Domestic Population Are 'Landowners'... Seoul Ranks Last Nationwide in Transaction Frequency

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] It has been revealed that 34% of the total population in South Korea owns domestic land. The most owned land type was forest land, followed by agricultural land such as rice paddies and fields, and then residential land.

The land transaction turnover rate, which indicates transaction frequency, was the lowest in Seoul nationwide.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 27th, as of last year, out of the total population of 51.85 million (resident registration population) in South Korea, 17.67 million people were found to own land.

By land category, forest land accounted for 26,948 km² (57.8%), making up more than half, agricultural land including rice paddies, fields, orchards, and pasture land accounted for 16,191 km² (34.7%), and residential land accounted for 2,528 km² (5.4%).

By household, out of a total of 22.48 million households, 13.79 million households, or 61.3%, were found to own land. Compared to 2018 (13.51 million households), this is an increase of 2.0%.

Looking at the basic status of land, land owned by individuals accounted for the largest share at 46,633 km² (76.0%), corporations owned 6,953 km² (11.3%), and non-corporate entities owned 7,787 km² (12.7%).

By land use zone, agricultural and forest areas were the largest at 48.5%, totaling 48,682 km², followed by management areas at 23,414 km² (23.3%), and green areas at 11,458 km² (11.4%). Residential areas accounted for 2,374 km² (2.4%).

By land category, forest land was 63,635 km² (63.4%), agricultural land 19,916 km² (19.8%), public land such as schools, roads, and railways 10,103 km² (10.1%), and residential land 3,196 km² (3.2%).

The land transaction turnover rate based on area was highest in Sejong at 1.4%, followed by Gyeonggi at 1.3%, and Incheon at 1.1%, while Seoul showed the lowest turnover rate nationwide at 0.2%.

Land ownership statistics are data used as basic materials for various land policies by understanding the status of land ownership, and this is the fifth publication following those in 2006, 2012, 2017, and 2018.

The land ownership status statistics can be directly accessed on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Statistics Nuri and the Statistics Korea National Statistics Portal.

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