Foreign ownership of land in South Korea inched up from three months earlier in the third quarter, marking a turnaround from the previous quarter, the government said Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the amount of land owned by foreign investors or companies here came to 225.76 million square meters as of the end of September, up 0.01 percent from three months earlier.

The land owned by foreign entities accounted for 0.2 percent of the country’s total area with the estimated value of the land owned by foreigners gaining 0.49 percent from three months before to some 32.58 trillion won ($30.73 billion).

South Korean expatriates continued to own the largest share of land owned by all foreign entities, accounting for 55.9 percent of the total with land owned by joint ventures and foreign firms accounting for 32.1 percent and 7.2 percent of the total, respectively, the ministry said in a press release.

Foreign individuals owned 10.37 million square meters of land or 4.6 percent of the total owned by foreign entities as of the end of September.

By nationality, individuals or companies from the United States owned some 122.56 million square meters of land in South Korea as of end-September, accounting for 54.3 percent of the total owned by foreigners.

European investors or companies owned some 23.98 million m2 of land, followed by Japanese and Chinese entities with ownership over 17.15 million square meters and 6.57 million square meters of land, respectively.

(Yonhap News)