SEOUL, July 31 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's unsold homes rose for the seventh consecutive month, fueling worry about the sluggish real estate market, government data showed Wednesday.
The number of unsold homes nationwide increased 2.6 percent from a month earlier to 74,037 at the end of June, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
The number rebounded in December 2023 as builders struggling with credit crunch began to bring new homes into the market on expectations for housing price hikes, affected by eased regulations.
The number of unsold homes in the capital Seoul and its surrounding metropolitan area, in which about half of the country's population resides, grew 2.0 percent from a month earlier to 15,051 at the end of June.
The number in other areas expanded 2.8 percent to 58,986 in the cited month.
The number of home transactions stood at 55,760 in June, down 2.9 percent from the previous month.
The housing transactions in the Seoul metropolitan area advanced 4.0 percent, but the home trading in other areas dropped 9.3 percent last month.
For the first six months of this year, the number of housing permits came in at 149,860, down 26.1 percent compared to the same period 2023.
The number of housing starts soared 30.4 percent to 127,249 in the six-month period across the country. ■