Population mobility slightly falls in April amid housing market recovery

National 12:00 May 24, 2023

By Kang Yoon-seung

SEOUL, May 24 (Yonhap) -- The number of South Koreans moving to other regions decreased in April from a year earlier, data showed Wednesday, after experiencing a slight rebound in the previous month as the local housing market showed signs of a recovery.

Around 455,000 people changed their residences last month, down 5.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

The decrease came after the figure snapped the 26th consecutive month of decline in March amid signs of a recovery in the local property market.

According to data from the Korea Real Estate Board, the number of properties traded in March came to 52,333, soaring 27 percent from a month earlier. The figure nevertheless marked a 2.1 percent on-year drop.

The increase in the number of houses traded came after the central bank took a breather in rate hikes.

The Bank of Korea had raised borrowing costs seven straight times to tackle inflation before freezing its key rate at 3.5 percent in February.

The population mobility rate -- the percentage of those relocating per 100 people -- reached 10.8 percent in April, down 0.6 percentage point on-year.

Nine regions reported a net inflow of people, with Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, adding 3,960 people, followed by Incheon, 27 kilometers west of the capital city, with 2,038.

Seoul, on the other hand, lost 3,365 people on-year in April, with Busan, 320 kilometers south of Seoul, and South Gyeongsang Province losing 1,392 and 996, respectively, the data showed.