Population mobility falls for 3rd month in March

SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) -- The number of South Koreans who moved to different residences in the country fell for the third straight month in March as housing transactions declined, data showed Wednesday.

The number of people who changed their residences fell 4 percent on-year to 735,000 last month, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

It marked the third straight month of decline after population mobility rose for the seventh consecutive month in December 2020 amid skyrocketing home prices.

The fall was mainly attributable to tepid housing transactions and fewer newly built apartments, according to the statistics agency.

The population mobility rate -- the number of those relocating per 100 people -- reached 16.9 percent last month, down 0.8 percentage point from a year earlier.

Transactions of homes declined 6 percent on-year in March, according to the land ministry.

In early February, the government unveiled a plan to increase the number of new homes by up to 836,000 nationwide in the next four years in a bid to help stabilize rising housing prices.

Home prices ran high despite a series of the government's measures to stabilize the housing market, including tax hikes and loan regulations.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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