The number of wealthy individuals who own at least 51 homes in South Korea marked 1,988 last year, down from 2,680 in 2016, data by Statistics Korea showed.

The number of those owning at least 51 houses peaked in 2015 at 2,907 before beginning to decline.

The total number of homeowners nationwide had increased 2.7 percent last year from the previous year to 13,669,851. Multiple-home owners as a whole surged 1.5 percent on-year to 2,119,163.

But the “superrich” who own more than 40 homes continued to drop, the agency said.

It noted that changes in the number of those owning more than 50 homes tend to run in parallel with changes in housing prices. In other words, they would buy more when housing prices are at a lull, and sell when the prices go up.

Separately, according to a Land Ministry report, the Korean with the most houses has been identified as a 60-year-old resident of Busan with 604.