Foreign ownership of land in Seoul has inched up from a year earlier on the back of increased ownership of Chinese nationals, data showed Friday.

According to the data by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the amount of land owned by foreign investors and companies in the South Korean capital city came to 2.74 million square meters as of the end of September, up 5.1 percent from a year earlier.

The estimated value of the land owned by foreigners amounted to 10.01 trillion won ($8.59 billion), the data showed.

By nationality, individuals and companies from the United States owned 1.63 million square meters of land, followed by those from China with some 160,000 square meters.

According to the data, Chinese nationals purchased an extra 22,804 square meters of land in Seoul over the past year. (Yonhap)