7.3 Million Buildings Nationwide... Half of Seoul's Buildings Are Aged Structures

The Building with the Largest Total Floor Area is LG Display Paju Plant
Followed by Incheon Airport Terminal 1 Passenger, Dongtan Logistics Complex, and Starfield Hanam

Officetel Dense Area Near Gwanghwamun

Last year, the total number of buildings nationwide was approximately 7.31 million, of which about 40% were aging buildings over 30 years old since completion.

According to the "National Building Status" announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 8th, as of the end of last year, the total number of buildings over 30 years old nationwide was 2,896,839, accounting for 39.6% of the total. In terms of total floor area, it was 779,475,278㎡, corresponding to 19.2% of the total.

By region, the proportion of aging buildings in the metropolitan area was 31.9%, while in the provinces it was 42.6%, showing that there are more aging buildings in the provinces. In Seoul, more than half, 50.4%, were found to be aging buildings.

By usage, aging buildings nationwide were mostly residential at 49.1%, followed by commercial (29.6%), educational and social (21.5%), others (17.8%), and industrial (15.8%).

Looking only at residential buildings, 38.7% in the metropolitan area and 52.9% in the provinces were aging buildings. In Seoul, aging buildings accounted for 49.7%.

As of the end of last year, the total number of buildings nationwide increased by 38,998 buildings (0.5%) compared to the previous year, reaching 7,314,264 buildings, and the total floor area increased by 2.4% to 4,056,243,000㎡.

The total increase in building floor area nationwide last year was equivalent to 395 times the floor area of the 63 Building in Yeouido, Seoul (238,429㎡).

By usage, residential buildings increased the most by 1.7% to 1,882,918,000㎡ (46.4%).

Commercial buildings increased by 2.7% to 894,675,000㎡ (22.1%), industrial buildings by 2.9% to 435,841,000㎡ (10.7%), and educational and social buildings by 3.7% to 306,413,000㎡ (9.1%).

Breaking down residential buildings by detailed usage, apartments were the largest at 1,191,863,000㎡ (63.3%), followed by detached houses at 331,941,000㎡ (17.6%), multi-family houses at 170,720,000㎡ (9.1%), row houses at 130,596,000㎡ (6.9%), and multiplex houses at 43,476,000㎡ (2.3%).

By province, the proportion of detached houses was highest in Jeonnam (44.4%), Jeju (35.6%), and Gyeongbuk (34.6%), while multi-family houses were highest in Daejeon (15.8%), Daegu (13.9%), and Jeju (12.1%).

Apartments were most prevalent in Sejong at 84.9%, followed by Gwangju (75.3%) and Busan (73.0%). Multiplex houses were highest in Jeju (11.8%), Seoul (3.3%), and Gangwon (2.5%), while row houses were highest in Seoul (14.9%), Incheon (12.4%), and Jeju (10.5%).

Last year, the number of demolished buildings was highest for residential buildings at 59,505 units (1.3% of all residential buildings), followed by commercial buildings at 13,174 units (1.0%), industrial buildings at 1,835 units (0.5%), and educational and social buildings at 918 units (0.5%).

The per capita building floor area increased by 2.11㎡ from the previous year to 78.55㎡. In the metropolitan area, it increased by 1.8㎡ to 70.56㎡, while in the provinces it increased by 2.47㎡ to 86.67㎡, showing that the per capita area in the provinces was larger than in the metropolitan area.

The per capita floor area for residential buildings was 36.46㎡, with Seoul being the smallest at 31.96㎡ and Sejong City the largest at 41.38㎡.

Looking only at residential buildings, the per capita floor area was largest in Sejong at 41.38㎡, followed by Chungbuk (41.36㎡) and Gangwon (40.86㎡).

The tallest building in Korea is the Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, Seoul (123 floors, 555m), which has held this position for five consecutive years since its completion in 2017. It is followed by the Haeundae LCT in Busan (101 floors, 412m), built in 2019, and the Park One in Yeouido, Seoul (69 floors, 318m), completed in 2020.

In terms of total floor area, the LG Display Paju Plant was the largest at 848,000㎡, followed by Incheon Airport Terminal 1 (508,000㎡), Dongtan Logistics Complex in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province (486,000㎡), Starfield Hanam (459,000㎡), and Samsung Electronics Hwaseong Plant (456,000㎡).

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