Construction permits issued for new homes surged 41.2 percent on-year in October, government data showed Tuesday, a strong sign of recovery in the country’s real estate market.
The number of new home permits issued came to 64,200 last month, up from 45,475 a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
October marked the 10th consecutive month of an on-year increase, although the pace slowed from the 133.1 percent spike tallied for the previous month.
“The number of home building permits has been on the rise throughout 2015, propped up by recovery in the local property market,” the ministry said in a press release.
The strong demand for new homes was visible throughout the country.
In the capital region that includes Seoul, the western port city of Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, construction permit numbers hit 34,161, for an increase of 36.6 percent compared to the year before. This region is home to nearly half of the country’s population of 50 million.
Permits issued to areas outside the capital region soared 46.7 percent to 30,039.
For the 10 months of 2015, the number of housing construction permits issued by authorities rose 52.3 percent on-year to 604,340 vis-a-vis 396,803 reported for the same period last year.
Reflecting the rise in demand for dwellings, the number of actual groundbreakings for new homes throughout the country came to 98,730 last month, up 64.3 percent from a year before. For the January-October period, the number rose 44 percent to 560,974. (Yonhap)
