South Korea's home transactions shrank slightly from a year earlier in February while the number of home transactions in the capital region surged to a nine-year high, the government said Monday.
In February, the number of home transactions came to 78,864, down 0.4 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
The drop was largely attributed to the three-day traditional Lunar New Year's Day break that fell in February this year, instead of January in 2014.
However, home transactions in Seoul and surrounding areas jumped to the highest monthly figure since February 2006, the ministry said, apparently reflecting a shortage of homes for rent in the region.
Home transactions in capital Seoul jumped 10.4 percent on-year to 12,990 last month with the number for the entire capital region, including Gyeonggi Province and the western port city of Incheon, growing 4.2 percent to 37,502.
Such an increase comes as low interest rates continue to encourage home owners to lease their homes for monthly rent instead of jeonse, a local lease system where tenants pay a lump-sum deposit.
Most locals are said to prefer jeonse as their entire deposits are returned when the leases expire.
The growing number of homeowners seeking to get monthly rent instead of a large deposit has apparently led to a shortage of homes for jeonse, reportedly driving up the amount of jeonse deposits to nearly 90 percent of the price of properties in some areas, which, in turn, is encouraging people to buy homes instead.
Home transactions in rural areas dropped 4.3 percent on-year to 41,362 in February.
By type, transactions of apartment units, the most common form of housing here, slipped 1.6 percent on-year to 57,885 in February, while transactions of row and detached houses gained 4.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively, to 11,999 and 8,980. (Yonhap)
