Individual Land Prices Fall for 1st Time in Decade

Individual public land prices have fallen an average 0.81 percent nationwide as of January 1 from a year ago due to the sluggish property market, the first drop in 10 years.

The phenomenon is expected to reduce the tax burden on land owners. Such prices fell an average 7.47 percent in 1999.

The Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Ministry announced yesterday the individual public land prices for 30 million plots nationwide. Individual land prices are announced by mayors, county executives and district chiefs based on standard public land prices issued in February and used as standards to decide taxes such as those for property and comprehensive real estate.

By area, Seoul, which had seen prices rise until last year, suffered the steepest fall with 2.14 percent, followed by Daejeon with 0.96 percent and Gyeonggi Province with 0.89 percent. North Jeolla Province saw a rise of 2.21 percent and Incheon two percent due to the Saemangeum land reclamation project.

The areas with the steepest price drops included Yeongi, South Chungcheong Province (minus 3.95 percent); Seoul’s Seocho district (minus 3.89 percent); Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province (minus 3.41 percent); and Seoul’s Gangdong (3.35 percent) and Gangnam (3.22 percent) districts.

Land owners will be informed of their individual public land prices by city, ward and county offices through the mail. They can also access the information on the homepages of the ministry and each city, ward and county office until June 30.

jefflee@donga.com