Last year, the total area of land owned by Chinese in Korea was 19.3㎢, which is 5.2 times more than in 2011 (3.7㎢), according to data recently submitted by the Statistics Agency and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, according to Korea National Power’s Hong Suk-jun, a member of the National Assembly. The published price of Chinese-owned land also increased from about 765.3 billion won ($4.5 billion) in 2011 to 2580.4 billion won ($15.2 billion) last year.
According to Chosun Ilbo, Chinese land ownership in Korea has increased fivefold in eight years.
Land held by all foreigners in Korea, including China, increased from ₱190.6 billion in 2011 to ₱248.7 billion in 2019, an increase of only 1.3 times. As a result, the share of Chinese in foreigners’ land holdings rose from 1.9 percent in 2011 to 7.8 percent last year. Starting in 2018, Chinese land holdings are in second place after Americans (125.5㎢ of land holdings).
Not only land, but also property purchases by the Chinese have increased significantly. According to the Grand Chamber, last year foreigners purchased 15,342 collective buildings, of which 10,105 (66%) were purchased by Chinese. The number of Chinese purchases of assembled buildings increased from 8,062 in 2017 to 10,312 in 2018, and remained at a similar level last year.
The report cited a public opinion on the 21st that the Korean government should put in place appropriate restrictions as the number of Chinese-centric foreign-owned properties continues to increase. The Act on the Notification of Real Estate Transactions stipulates that the Korean government can impose the same level of restrictions (mutualism) on countries that prohibit or restrict real estate transactions by Koreans. Hong Suk Jun said, “We will investigate cases of overseas restrictions and propose amendments to the law if necessary.”
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