Looking at individual regions, Gyeonggi Province and Sejong City saw higher numbers of people moving than Seoul and Busan. (Image:Kobiz Media)
SEOUL, Jul. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of people who switched houses in June was the lowest recorded in 37 years.
One possible explanation for the downturn is that the population under the age of 40 is dwindling as Korean society continues to age. Those under 40 have traditionally been more frequent movers than those that are older.
Statistics Korea data on the individuals who moved in the month of June showed decrease of 4.6 percent to 541,000, the lowest number since 1980 when there were a recorded 537,000 movers.
Figures for the number of people who moved in March and April of this year were also down compared to the corresponding months of last year.
This year, the annual mover rate (the number of people who moved per 100 people) dropped by 0.05 percent from last year to 1.06 percent. The mover rate for the month of June also hit its lowest level since mobility data was first collected in 2000.
“Lately we are seeing lower residential mobility. This has been strongly effected by the decline in numbers of those between the ages of 10 and 40. For example, last month the total number of persons included in that category was 380,000 less than the previous year, according to resident registration data,” a Statistics Korea spokesperson noted.
Looking at individual regions, Gyeonggi Province and Sejong City saw higher numbers of people moving than Seoul and Busan. Gyeonggi Province had 6,047 and Sejong City had 3,734 move in. In contrast, Seoul and Busan saw 6,045 and 2,564 move out, respectively.
The overall decline in movers was also observable in the second financial quarter period (April through June) of this year. Compared to the same period last year, the number of movers dropped by 4.1 percent to 1.65 million. This is the lowest figure since 1975, when there were 1.55 million movers.
A total of 364,000 movers were in their 30s, and 339,000 were in their 20s. The mover rate was higher for those in their 20s at 5.0 percent compared to those in their 30s at 4.9 percent.
by Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
