'South Korea's home transactions to drop in 2016'

South Korea's home transactions will likely suffer a large drop this year due mostly to a base effect stemming from record numbers posted in 2015, a report said Friday.

In a report released by the Korea Center for International Finance, Credit Suisse Group forecast the number of home transactions here will drop by up to 20 percent this year.

The report, however, noted the fall in home transactions will not translate into a slump in the real estate market as the drop will only mean a reduction from the record number posted last year.

For instance, the number of home transactions here plunged 10 percent from the previous month in December, but chances of a downturn in the home market remain very slim, the report said, adding the December figure still marked a 19 percent spike from the average for the 2006-2014 period.

In 2015, there were over 1.19 million home transactions here, up nearly 33 percent from the average 898,000 for the cited period, according to the report.

The land and transportation ministry earlier said the 2015 tally marked an 18.8 percent surge from the previous year. (Yonhap)