Foreigners Hold 253.35 Million㎡ of Domestic Land
Official Land Price 31.4962 Trillion Won... 3.1% Increase
Holding Area Ranked by US, China, Europe, Japan
[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] The publicly announced land value of domestic land owned by foreigners approached 31.5 trillion KRW as of the end of last year. Americans owned more than half of the total land area held by foreigners, followed by Chinese nationals. Chinese nationals showed the highest increase rate in domestic land ownership area (3.6%) compared to the previous year.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 23rd that as of the end of 2020, the area of domestic land owned by foreigners was 253.35 million square meters, an increase of 1.9% (4.68 million square meters) compared to the previous year. Foreign-owned land accounts for about 0.25% of the total land area of South Korea.
The publicly announced land value of foreign-owned land was 31.4962 trillion KRW, up 3.1% from the end of the previous year. Foreign ownership of domestic land showed high growth rates in 2014 (6.0%) and 2015 (9.6%), but in recent five years, it has stabilized with rates of 2.3% in 2016, 2.3% in 2017, 1.0% in 2018, and 3.0% in 2019.
By nationality, Americans owned 133.27 million square meters, accounting for 52.6% of the total foreign-owned land area. This was followed by China at 7.9%, Europe at 7.2%, and Japan at 7.0%, with other countries holding 25.3%.
Based on publicly announced land value, the United States accounted for about 13.1662 trillion KRW, or 41.8% of the total, followed by Europe at 16.6%, China at 9.0%, and Japan at 8.1%.
In the case of China, the land area owned increased by 3.6% over one year, showing a higher growth rate than the overall average (1.9%) as well as the United States (2.7%), Europe (0.9%), and Japan (-4.4%).
Gyeonggi Province was found to be the region where foreigners own the most land, with 45.74 million square meters (18.1%). This was followed by Jeonnam with 38.94 million square meters (15.4%), Gyeongbuk with 36.14 million square meters (14.3%), Gangwon with 22.90 million square meters (9.0%), and Jeju with 21.81 million square meters (8.6%).
By usage, forest and farmland accounted for the largest portion at 167.85 million square meters (66.3%), followed by factory use at 58.78 million square meters (23.2%), leisure use at 11.90 million square meters (4.7%), residential use at 10.72 million square meters (4.2%), and commercial use at 4.09 million square meters (1.6%).
Foreign nationals of Korean descent held the largest share at 141.40 million square meters (55.8%), followed by joint ventures at 71.18 million square meters (28.1%), pure foreigners at 21.36 million square meters (8.4%), pure foreign corporations at 18.87 million square meters (7.4%), and government/organizations at 0.55 million square meters (0.2%).
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