The market value of all apartments in South Korea grew more than 2 percent over the past six months, apparently helped by the government's stimulus efforts and record-low interest rates, industry data showed Wednesday.

The value of 7,066,644 apartments across the country totaled around 2,072 trillion won ($1.9 trillion) as of June, up 2.4 percent from 2,022 trillion won six months earlier, according to data by Real Estate 114, a real estate information provider.

Apartments in Seoul enjoyed the largest hike in prices.

Apartments in the capital city were valued at 695.4 trillion won as of end-June, up 15.9 trillion won compared to six months earlier.

Gyeonggi Province came next with the total market value of apartments in its region rising 13.6 trillion won to 599.6 trillion won over the cited period, the data showed.

The rise was attributed to the government's drive for deregulation and tax benefits aimed at propping up the slumping local real estate market.

The central bank's low-rate policy was also cited as another contributing factor as lowered bank lending rates have prompted people to purchase more apartments, leading to a hike in their prices.

Earlier this month, the Bank of Korea cut its benchmark interest rate to an all-time low of 1.5 percent in a bid to prop up the sputtering economy.

Home construction permits, a main gauge of the housing market conditions, have increased in recent months.

The land and transportation ministry said in a press release Wednesday that the government issued construction permits for 56,861 houses in May, up 36.8 percent from a year earlier. This marked the fifth consecutive month of gains in permits for construction.

During the January-May period, cumulative construction permits spiked 27.8 percent on-year to 226,978 houses. (Yonhap)