No. of people moving residence hit 33-year low last year

The number of people moving residence hit a 33-year low in Korea last year in the wake of the real estate market downturn, Statistics Korea said Monday.

According to a 2012 population survey released by the state-run statistical agency, the number of movers fell by 7.6 percent (620,000 people) from 2011 to 7,507,000 last year, the lowest since 7,324,000 in 1979. The ratio of movers to every 100 people decreased by 1.3 percentage points to 14.9 percent, the lowest since 15.3 percent in 1974.

“The most immediate cause of the decline in movers is the decrease in housing transactions,” said Lee Jae-won, head of the population trends department at Statistics Korea, “The volume of housing transactions fell 246,000 cases last year from the previous year. If one case includes two people, this can explain the decrease in the number of movers (620,000 people) from the previous year.” Other causes cited included fewer people in their 20s and 30s, who are most likely to move for jobs and marriage, and the rise in the population of over-60s.

Gyeonggi Province had the most net inflow of population with 83,000 people, followed by Incheon with 28,000 and Sejong City with 17,000. In contrast, Seoul topped the net outflow rankings with minus 104,000, followed by Busan with minus 21,000 and Daegu with minus 11,000.

buddy@donga.com