This file photo from Sept. 23, shows downtown Seoul seen from Mount Nam filled with apartment complexes and buildings. Yonhap

Chinese nationals accounted for over 60 percent of apartment purchases by foreign nationals in South Korea since 2015, a government report showed Monday.

According to the land ministry report submitted to Rep. Yang Kyung-sook of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, the number of apartment purchase deals of Chinese nationals amounted to 18,465 between January 2015 and August of this year.

The tally accounts for 62 percent of a total of 29,792 apartment purchase deals by foreigners during the tracked period. Americans bought 5,855 apartments, or 19.6 percent of foreign purchases.

Apartment buying by foreigners, recorded at 2,979 in 2015, grew steadily to 3,930 in 2019 and surged 43.5 percent on-year in 2020 amid the then toughening of borrowing and home purchase rules for South Koreans to rein in skyrocketing housing prices.

The findings mark the first official government data on home purchases of foreigners in South Korea. The ministry plans to issue regular data on home transactions by foreigners starting in the first quarter of 2023. (Yonhap)