Last Year's Land Transaction Volume Lowest in 10 Years... Land Price Increase Rate Also Lowest in 6 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Noh Kyung-jo] Due to the real estate market downturn, land transaction volume and land price increase rates have shrunk.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Real Estate Board announced on the 26th that the total land transaction volume for the past year was approximately 2,209,000 parcels, a 33% decrease compared to the previous year (3,296,622 parcels). This is the lowest figure in 10 years since 2012 (2,045,000 parcels).

By region, Daegu saw the largest decrease at 54.6%, followed by Seoul (-43.5%) and Sejong (-42.5%). Among the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces, none experienced an increase in land transaction volume.

By land use zone, residential areas (-39.4%), greenbelt areas (-36.4%), commercial areas (-35.6%), and industrial areas (-28.0%) saw significant declines in transaction volume. The volume of pure land transactions, excluding land attached to buildings, was 974,000 parcels, down 22.0% from the previous year (1,248,084 parcels).

As transaction volume decreased, the rate of land price increase also slowed. Nationwide land prices rose by 2.73% last year, a 1.44 percentage point decrease from the previous year (4.17%). This is the lowest rate in six years since the 2.70% increase recorded in 2016.

Both the Seoul metropolitan area (4.78% → 3.03%) and other regions (3.17% → 2.24%) showed lower rates compared to the previous year. By city and province, Sejong (3.25%), Gyeonggi (3.11%), Seoul (3.06%), and Busan (2.75%) had land price increases above the national average; however, compared to 2021, Sejong’s rate halved (7.06% → 3.25%) and Seoul’s increase rate also shrank from 5.31% to 3.06%.

Looking at monthly changes, the land price change rate fell by 0.005% in November last year, marking a decline for the first time in 12 years and 1 month since October 2010. In December, the decline widened to -0.032%. The Ministry of Land explained, "Due to financial burden and decreased demand amid the economic downturn, land prices showed a downward trend."