Chinese people prefer Korean real estate, accounting for more than 60% of buyers

Publicly available court data from South Korea shows that more than 10,000 foreigners bought real estate in South Korea from January to July 2024, up 22% from 2023, with nearly two-thirds of the buyers being Chinese. More than 73% of the real estate was concentrated in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province.

More than 10,000 foreigners have bought real estate in South Korea, led by China. (Source: Getty)

According to data from the Supreme Court of South Korea, a total of 10,185 foreign buyers applied for changes in real estate ownership pending approval in the January-July period of 2024. This figure increased by 22.5% compared to 2023.

Foreign buyers accounted for 0.97% of all homebuyers, up from 0.9% in 2023. The nearly 1% increase reflects a steady upward trend from just 0.2% in 2010. Of the total, 6,678 were Chinese, accounting for 65.6%.

The second largest group of foreign buyers were Americans, with 1,429, followed by Canadians with 433, Vietnamese with 313, Uzbeks with 166, Russians with 155, and Australians with 121.

The proportion of buildings with court-certified ownership registered individually — mostly residential — reached 7,952 in the same period, marking a 25.4% increase from 2023. This includes apartments, studio apartments, apartment buildings of about 4 or 5 storeys and commercial buildings.

More foreign owners are generating rental income from their properties. According to separate court data, a total of 10,195 leases show a foreign owner as the landlord. They accounted for 0.61% of all rental properties in the January-July 2024 period, up from 0.59% in 2023.

Seoul topped the list with 4,404 foreign-owned rental properties in the region, followed by Gyeonggi with 2,832, Incheon with 707, South Chungcheong with 282, Busan with 243, Jeju with 126 and Daejeon with 116.

The popularity of real estate investment is partly due to the fact that apartment prices in Seoul have maintained a steady increase for about six months. According to data from the Korea Real Estate Council, the Seoul apartment price index rose 0.26 percent in the fourth week of August from the previous week, continuing to rise for 23 consecutive weeks.

The weekly figure first recorded growth in the fourth week of March this year, with a weekly increase of 0.01%. The figure has since risen to a peak of 0.32% in the second week of August, nearing a six-year high.

The jeonse market has been through a brief correction. Unique to South Korea, jeonse is a rental system in which tenants pay landlords a refundable deposit in lieu of monthly rent. Council data show jeonse prices rose 0.07 percent this week, down from 0.08 percent the previous week. The council said purchase prices rose despite a shortage of desirable homes.

“Many potential buyers are adopting a wait-and-see approach amid rising prices,” the report said.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/dan-trung-quoc-chuong-bat-dong-san-han-quoc-chiem-hon-60-luong-nguoi-mua-284759.html