South Korea's property market showed signs of recovery in January. House transactions nationwide surged more than 30 percent last month from a year earlier, partly due to the government's measures to reinvigorate the country's property market, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport reported Thursday.
The number of home transactions totaled 79,320 in January, up 34.1 percent from the same month of last year, according to the report.
The figure marks the highest for the month of January since 2006.
In Seoul, the capital, alone, house transactions soared 32.3 percent to 11,005 on-year in January, the report said. But sales of homes in Gangnam, southern Seoul, increased only 7.7 percent to 1,741 over the cited period. Gangnam is one of the most affluent areas in both Seoul and South Korea as a whole.
Home transactions in areas surrounding Seoul and provincial regions rose 32.5 percent to 34,301 and 35.3 percent to 45,019 in January from a year earlier.
The government's measures to revive the property market, which were announced on Sept. 1, 2014, included cutting the minimum age of housing units subject to reconstruction by up to 10 years.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com