Home ownership rate in Korea stands at 55.9% in 2017

Published : Nov 16, 2018 - 13:19 Updated : Nov 16, 2018 - 13:23

The home ownership rate in South Korea came to 55.9 percent in 2017, 0.4 percentage point up from a year earlier, government data showed Friday.

The data released by Statistics Korea said 11 million households out of 19.67 million across the country owned homes in 2017.

The average price of homes came to 225 million won ($199,000), and the average size stood at 86.3 square meters.

This photo, provided by Lotte Group and taken from the observation deck of Lotte World Tower, the tallest building in South Korea, shows Seoul`s cityscape dotted with apartments. (Yonhap)

The data also showed that the total number of residences across the country came to 17.12 million units, up from 16.69 million a year earlier. Among them, apartments took up the lion's share, with 10.37 million last year.

The latest data is a reminder that apartments are the most favored type of dwelling by South Koreans. The country is one of the most densely populated in the world.

Statistics Korea said 56.1 percent of the homeowners were men in 2017. The rate of female homeowners has risen steadily since logging 41.4 percent in 2012.

It said 25.6 percent of individual homeowners were in their 50s, followed by those in their 40s with 24.3 percent, those in their 60s with 18.4 percent and those in their 30s with 13.2 percent. (Yonhap)