The outlook for South Korea's construction, information technology and electronics industries is bright for the fourth quarter on real estate deregulation and the strong performance of chipmakers, a leading business body said Sunday.

In its latest industry outlook, the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry said the construction industry will likely have "not bad" business conditions in the current quarter thanks to the government's property deregulation and brisk government investment.

In August, the government eased regulations on the property market, such as the loan-to-value ratio and the debt-to-income ratio, both aimed at widening public access to home mortgages.

The IT and electronics industry will be powered by a strong gain in demand for semiconductors, whose exports expanded 5.8 percent on-year in the first eight months of this year.

Expectations for the chip industry have risen after world's No. 1 memory chipmaker Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. announced large-scale investment plans, the KCCI said.

In late August, SK hynix Inc. said it will spend 46 trillion won (US$39.6 billion) on building three new semiconductor production lines over the next 10 years in an effort to bolster its market position and join government efforts to revitalize the economy.

Three months earlier, Samsung Electronics broke ground on a chip complex in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, in which it plans to invest 15 trillion won.

According to the KCCI, business conditions are gloomy for the machinery, auto, chemicals, refining, steel and textiles industries due to a cooling Chinese economy, slowing exports and a weak Japanese currency.

The shipbuilding industry faces the harshest outlook because of a tumble in new overseas orders, according to the business organization. (Yonhap)