Are Chinese buying up apartments in Gangnam, Seoul? ... In fact, the unexpected result is ”surprising” = Korea

Since the beginning of this year, foreigners have been actively purchasing real estate such as apartments and commercial facilities in South Korea. Among them, 67% are Chinese, while the majority of foreigners are from wealthy areas of Seoul.
In the Gangnam area, where shopping is concentrated, Americans are making five times as many purchases as Chinese. The main shopping areas for Chinese are concentrated in the cities of Ansan, Bucheon, and Siheung in Gyeonggi Province.
According to data released on the 1st by the public data portal site "Registration Information Plaza" run by the Korean courts, 10,000 foreigners registered ownership transfers (sales) between January and April of this year.
The number of applications submitted for apartment buildings totaled 4,169. This is a decrease of 2.5% (108 cases) compared to the same period last year, but by month, the number of applications increased from 833 in January to 1,011 in February, 1,087 in March, and 1,071 in March.
In April, the number of cases increased to 1,238. By nationality, 2,791 of these cases (66.9%) were Chinese, followed by 519 from the United States, 136 from Vietnam, and 136 from Canada.
China was second with 118 cases, followed by Russia with 96. Chinese property purchases are particularly prominent in Gyeonggi Province. Of the 1,863 properties purchased by foreigners in Gyeonggi Province during the same period, Chinese people made up 76.8% (1,431.
The area with the most purchases was Bupyeong-gu, Incheon with 195 purchases, followed by Danwon-gu, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do (158 cases), Wonmi-gu, Bucheon (151 cases), Siheung-si (137 cases), and Bucheon-si (143 cases).
In the same period, Seoul had 243 Chinese cases (47 in Guro-gu, 44 in Geumcheon-gu, and 121 in Sosa-gu).
This accounts for 45.4% of foreign purchases in Seoul, with Americans making the most in the Gangnam area in southern Seoul.
Looking at real estate purchases by Americans by region as of April this year, Pyeongtaek City, where the US military base is located, had the most with 31 cases, followed by Seocho-gu, Seoul (24 cases).
), Bundang-gu, Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province (24 cases), Gangnam-gu, Seoul (20 cases), Seongdong-gu (14 cases), and Yongsan-gu (14 cases).
In fact, from January to April this year, Chinese people were in the three Gangnam districts (Gangnam-gu, Seocho-gu, and Songpa-gu).
In the same period, Chinese people purchased a total of 12 apartments, villas, and shops, while Americans purchased 58 properties.
This is because the proportion of Chinese nationals in the total number of homeowners in the country is on the rise. The number of foreign-owned homes in the country increased by 21% in two years, from 83,052 in 2022 to 100,216 last year.
In particular, the proportion of Chinese nationals among foreign home buyers has been steadily increasing, from 53.7% in 2022 to 56.2% last year.
Of the 2,042,000 long-term foreign residents in Japan last year, Chinese people accounted for 47% (959,000 people),
The percentage of Chinese homeowners is about 10 percentage points higher than the percentage of long-term foreign residents overall. Some say that when foreigners take out loans from domestic financial institutions, they have to pay a fixed rate.
While lending regulations such as TV (home equity loan ratio) are applied, if a loan is obtained from a financial company in the country, these regulations are not applicable.
It has also been pointed out that this is a result of