Foreigners' Land Holdings Reach 31.7 Trillion Won in H1... Daegu Tops Growth Rate

Foreigners' Owned Land Officially Appraised Value 31.6906 Trillion Won... 0.6% Increase Compared to Last Year-End
USA, 136.75 Million ㎡ with 2.6% Increase... Accounts for 53.3% of Total Foreign-Owned Area

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] The area of domestic land held by foreigners in the first half of this year increased by 1.3% compared to the end of the previous year, reaching 256.7㎢ (256.74 million ㎡). This accounts for 0.26% of the total national land area (100,413㎢), with an official land price value of 31.6906 trillion KRW. The region where foreigners hold the most land is Gyeonggi-do, and the area with the largest increase in land holdings is Daegu.

According to the "Status of Foreign Land Ownership as of the First Half of 2021" released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 26th, the official land price of land held by foreigners was 31.6906 trillion KRW, a 0.6% increase from 31.4962 trillion KRW at the end of 2020.

In terms of area, foreign land ownership in Korea showed high growth rates of 6.0% in 2014 and 9.6% in 2015, but the growth rate slowed to 2.3% in 2016 and has since maintained current levels with 2.3% in 2017, 1.0% in 2018, 3.0% in 2019, and 1.9% in 2020.

The Ministry of Land explained, "The main reasons for the increase are acquisitions through continuous ownership such as gifts and inheritance from Korean parents to children with U.S. or Canadian nationality, or acquisitions by domestic landowners who have obtained foreign nationality (4.62 million ㎡)."

In fact, overseas Koreans with foreign nationality held the largest share at 143.56 million ㎡ (55.9%), followed by joint ventures at 71.21 million ㎡ (27.7%), pure foreigners at 22.54 million ㎡ (8.8%), pure foreign corporations at 18.87 million ㎡ (7.4%), and government/organizations at 0.55 million ㎡ (0.2%).

By nationality, the U.S. held 136.75 million ㎡, accounting for 53.3% of the total foreign-held land area, an increase of 2.6% from the previous year. This was followed by China at 7.9%, Europe at 7.1%, and Japan at 6.5%, with other countries holding 25.2%. In terms of official land price value, the U.S. accounted for 13.2641 trillion KRW, or 41.9% of the total, followed by Europe at 16.5%, China at 9.3%, and Japan at 8.0%.

By region, Gyeonggi-do held the most land by foreigners at 46.64 million ㎡ (18.2% of the total), followed by Jeollanam-do at 38.95 million ㎡ (15.2%), Gyeongsangbuk-do at 35.56 million ㎡ (13.8%), Gangwon-do at 23.87 million ㎡ (9.3%), and Jeju at 21.75 million ㎡ (8.5%).

By land use, forest and farmland accounted for the largest share at 171.31 million ㎡ (66.7%), followed by factory use at 58.57 million ㎡ (22.8%), leisure use at 11.83 million ㎡ (4.6%), residential use at 10.85 million ㎡ (4.2%), and commercial use at 4.18 million ㎡ (1.6%).

Among the cities and provinces, the area of foreign land ownership increased the most in Daegu (8.5%) during this period. This was followed by Sejong (6.4%), Chungnam (6.1%), Gangwon (4.2%), Jeonbuk (2.6%), Incheon (2.1%), Gyeonggi (2.0%), and Ulsan (1.2%). In terms of value, Chungnam (2.2%), Gyeonggi (2.1%), and Incheon (1.9%) saw the largest increases, while Sejong decreased by 22.3%. Jeju (-0.5%) and Gyeongsangbuk-do (-0.1%) also saw decreases.