ΆΓ  Foreign ownership of real estate on sharp rise

Korea Herald 2001. 2. 23

Foreigners bought a total of 8.4 million pyong, or 27,768,720 sq. meters, of land in Korea last year, spending 4.4 trillion won ($3.45 billion), the Ministry of Construction and Transportation said yesterday.

The ministry added foreigners now own a total of 32.61 million pyong of land.

The real-estate market opened to foreign buyers in 1998, and for the past three years their interest in buying property has risen. Before the market opening, about 11.48 million pyong of land was owned by foreigners.

Korean-Americans and U.S. joint investment companies bought most of the land last year, purchasing 2.41 million pyong. Three European nations, Great Britain, France and Germany, bought a total of 1.6 million pyong. And Japan purchased 760,000 pyong of land in total.

More than half of the property purchased last year, 4.32 million pyong, was for factory sites. About 2.68 million pyong purchased was forest and fields. And 603,000 pyong of land was for commercial purposes.