ΆΓ Foreigners acquired 7.4 square kilometers of land in Korea during second quarter

 KoreaHerald 2000.08.02

   Foreigners acquired a total of 7.4 square kilometers of land in Korea, an area equivalent to about 2.6 times the size of Yoido Island in Seoul, during the second quarter of the year, the Construction and Transportation Ministry said yesterday.

    The second-quarter figure represented a 10.6 percent drop from the first quarter during which foreigners purchased 8.25 sq. km of land. In terms of value, the second quarter total of 664.1 billion won was a 54.6 percent drop from 1.46 trillion in the first quarter.

    But in terms of the number of transactions, the 903 deals made in the April-June period was 9.6 percent more than 824 of the preceding quarter. A ministry official explained that the second quarter saw a sharp increase in foreign purchases of small-sized commercial and residential plots.

    The aggregate size of land acquired by foreigners since the land market was opened in June 1998 amounted to 96.36 sq. km, according to the ministry.

    Foreign acquisitions during the second quarter broke down into 464 transactions involving U.S. investors and 143 deals with Europeans. Slightly more than a half of the total, 456 contracts, were concluded with ethnic Koreans living abroad.

    Housing lots accounted for 550 transactions, or 61 percent, while commercial lots took up 160 deals, or 18 percent.

    The ministry expected foreign acquisitions of land to increase in the future because of growth in foreign takeover of domestic firms. It said when vehicles for indirect investment in real estate, including real estate investment trusts, are available, foreign investment in domestic real estate will further increase.