Population Mobility Down on Dull Housing Market
By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
Population mobility has declined on the sluggish property market with people refraining from moving to different houses. When the market is booming, many homeowners sell holdings to realize capital gains and those who do not own houses purchase units on expectations of further rises in home values, increasing population movement.
According to the National Statistical Office Tuesday, the number of people who moved to other administrative districts totaled 2.52 million in the first quarter of the year, down 3.2 percent from a year earlier.
The statistical office said there was a correlation between housing price hikes and population mobility, adding stagnant property prices and decreasing housing transactions have cut population movement in recent months. It also said the overall economic slowdown played a role in causing the mobility slump.
Among 16 municipal districts, Seoul, Busan and eight other regions had more people move out than move in. Busan saw a population outflow of 9,000 in the first three months to March, followed by North Jeolla Province with 7,000 and South Jeolla Province with 5,000.
On the other hand, Gyeonggi Province and five other districts recorded a net inflow in population. Gyeonggi had 21,000 more people move in than move out, followed by Incheon with 6,000 and South Chungchong Province with 5,000.
The net influx of South Koreans into Seoul, Inchon and Gyeonggi Province reached 26,000 in the first quarter, down from 37,000 a year earlier. A total of 171,000 people moved into the metropolitan region, while 145,000 left the area. South Koreans tend to prefer areas near the capital rather than provincial cities as Seoul offers better education and job opportunities.
The majority of newcomers in the metropolitan area were those who had previously resided in the Gyeongsang or Jeolla provinces, the statistical office said.
About 7,000 people moved out of Cholla Province, up from the net outflow of 6,000 a year ago. The net outflow from Gyeongsang Province came to 19,000, down from 21,000.
Hwaseong City in Gyeonggi Province recorded the biggest population inflow of 17,674 people nationwide as new residents moved into newly constructed apartments there. Asan City in South Chungchong Province (8,630) and Gangseo District in Seoul (7,225) followed Hwaseong.