SEOUL, June 16 (Korea Bizwire) — The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced new measures on Sunday to enhance oversight of real estate transactions involving foreign nationals, aiming to address rising concerns over transparency, market disruption, and perceived unequal treatment of domestic buyers. As foreign ownership of property in South Korea increases, Seoul officials plan to scrutinize sources [...]
SEOUL, May 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of homes in South Korea owned by foreign nationals surpassed 100,000 for the first time in 2024, with Chinese buyers accounting for more than half, according to data released Friday by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. As of December 2024, foreigners owned 100,216 residential properties across [...]
SEOUL, May 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The country’s financial regulator said Tuesday that tighter rules on household loans will come into effect from July as planned amid still higher debt levels. According to the Financial Services Commission (FSC), tighter debt-service-ratio (DSR) rules will be applied to virtually all kinds of household debts, and the stress [...]
SEOUL, May 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Assisting senior citizens in liquidating their assets is essential to addressing elderly poverty, which, in turn, may help boost local spending, the chief of South Korea’s central bank said Thursday. Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Rhee Chang-yong made the point during a symposium co-hosted by the BOK and state-run [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s home-sharing market, led by platforms like Airbnb, has surged more than twentyfold in just three years, with young adults emerging as the dominant force behind its rapid expansion. According to newly released data submitted by the National Tax Service to Rep. Park Sung-hoon of the National Assembly’s Strategy [...]
SEOUL, May 5 (Korea Bizwire) — As modular construction rapidly gains global traction as a sustainable and efficient building method, South Korean construction firms and public agencies are scaling up investments and expanding the scope of projects from single-story homes to high-rise apartments. Modular construction—where prefabricated components are assembled on-site—offers a range of advantages including shorter [...]
SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean government on Thursday announced a sweeping plan to manage the country’s growing number of vacant homes, aiming to turn more than 134,000 unused properties into assets that support regional revitalization and public safety. Unveiled during an economic policy meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance [...]
SEOUL, April 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of unsold new homes in South Korea has reached the highest level in 11 years and five months, data showed Sunday, due mainly to weak demand for new homes in provincial regions. There were 23,722 unsold new apartments nationwide as of the end of February, doubling from [...]
SEOUL, April 17, (Korea Bizwire) — In a significant move to stabilize the nation’s troubled real estate project financing (PF) market, South Korea’s National Assembly has approved a bill enabling Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) to engage not only in property investment but also in development and leasing projects. The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee’s [...]
SEOUL, April 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Household loans extended by South Korean banks rose for the second consecutive month in March, central bank data showed Wednesday, amid rising housing prices in the affluent districts of southern Seoul following state deregulatory moves. Banks’ outstanding household loans stood at 1,145 trillion won (US$774.12 billion) as of end-March, [...]