South Korea's property and real estate rental industry contracted in the second quarter for the first time in more than four years due to the sluggish market, central bank data showed Monday.
According to the Bank of Korea's latest data on gross domestic product, the real estate and rental sector shrank 0.2 percent in the April-June period from three months earlier.
It marks the first on-quarter decline since the fourth quarter of 2011, when the industry declined 0.6 percent from three months earlier.
The second-quarter tally also compares with a 0.3-percentage-point increase recorded for the last quarter of 2015 and the first three months of this year each, which was driven by eased regulations on bank mortgages.
The central bank said the faltering real estate market was responsible for the sector's negative growth in the second quarter.
"The real estate market is usually in better shape in the second quarter than three months earlier due to increased demand for movement," a central bank official said. "But this year, house and land transactions dropped from a year earlier."
According to government data, the number of home transactions tumbled 28.4 percent on-year in April, with the figure also dropping 18.8 percent in May and 16.1 percent in June. Land transactions also declined 8.8 percent on-year in the April-June period.
Analysts said the property and real estate rental industry will unlikely post positive growth for the time being, given weak market conditions. (Yonhap)
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