Seoul’s popular shopping district of Myeongdong (Image : Yonhap)
SEJONG, Feb. 22 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s official average land prices rose at the fastest clip in six years in 2015 amid government-led property market boosting measures, government data showed Monday.
Government-set land prices in the country’s 252 cities and districts rose 4.47 percent from a year earlier, slightly up from the previous year’s 4.41 percent, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation.
The on-year jump marked the steepest gain since 2008 when prices soared 9.63 percent before the 2008 global financial crisis. The figure dropped 1.42 percent in 2009.
A cosmetics firm’s building in Myeongdong, a popular shopping district in central Seoul, was the most expensive plot of land in the country, valued at 274.23 million won (US$222,444) for 3.3 square meters.
South Korea has made constant efforts to revive the local real estate market for a few years, lowering financial barriers for mortgage borrowers and slashing the base rate to a record low of 1.5 percent.
As a result, the number of home transactions surged 18.8 percent on-year to a record 1,193,691 last year.
The government announces the official average prices of land plots every year, which is some 30 percent lower than actual market prices.’
(Yonhap)
