Foreign ownership of South Korean land grew from three months earlier in the third quarter amid a rise in net purchase by foreign companies, the government said Thursday.

As of the end of Sept. 30, the amount of land owned by foreign entities here came to about 231.42 million square meters, up 1.48 percent from three months earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The land owned by foreign entities, including joint ventures and individual investors, accounted for 0.2 percent of the country’s total area.

The increase was mainly attributed to a growth in ownership by foreign firms.

The amount of land owned by foreign companies rose by 2.33 million square meters while the land owned by foreign individuals of Korean descent dwindled by some 500,000 square meters.

Still, individuals of Korean descent owned over 54 percent of the total owned by all foreign entities as of the end of September.

Joint ventures owned 32 percent of the total, followed by foreign firms with 8.1 percent. Individual foreign investors with no Korean heritage owned 12.71 million square kilometers of land here, accounting for 5.5 percent of the total owned by foreign entities. (Yonhap)