Foreigners' Land Holdings Increased by 0.5% in the First Half of the Year... Official Land Prices Rose by 1.2%

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Wanyong] As of the first half of this year, the area of domestic land owned by foreigners increased by 0.5% (1,338,000㎡) compared to the end of last year. The total publicly announced land value amounted to 32.455 trillion KRW, up 1.2% from the end of last year.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 1st, as of the first half of this year, the land area owned by foreigners is 260.74 million㎡ (260.7㎢). This accounts for about 0.26% of the total national land area of 104,310㎢.

The land owned by foreigners surged with growth rates of 6.0% and 9.6% in 2014 and 2015 respectively, but the growth rate has slowed since 2016, maintaining a moderate increase of around 1 to 3% up to now.

By nationality, land owned by Americans increased by 0.3% (456 million㎡) compared to the end of last year, accounting for 53.1% of the total foreign-owned land area. Following were China with 7.9% (20.59 million㎡), Europe with 7.2% (18.89 million㎡), and Japan with 6.4% (16.78 million㎡).

By region, Gyeonggi Province accounted for 18.5% (48.22 million㎡) of the total foreign-owned land nationwide, followed by Jeonnam with 14.9% (38.96 million㎡) and Gyeongbuk with 13.9% (36.34 million㎡).

Regarding the usage of land owned by foreigners, other lands such as forest and farmland accounted for the largest share at 67.1% (174.86 million㎡), followed by factory sites at 22.6% (59.03 million㎡), leisure sites at 4.5% (11.78 million㎡), and residential sites at 4.2% (10.91 million㎡).

Analyzing foreigners who own land by entity, foreign nationals of Korean descent accounted for the largest share at 55.7% (145.15 million㎡), followed by foreign corporations such as joint ventures at 34.6% (90.11 million㎡), pure foreigners at 9.5% (24.92 million㎡), and governments or organizations at 0.2% (5.5 million㎡).

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