Home sales continued to grow significantly in April, reflecting recovery signs in the country’s real estate market, the government said Thursday.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the number of home transactions surged 16.6 percent from the same month last year to 92,691 in April. This follows a 34.2 percent on-year spike in the previous month and marks the fourth consecutive month that the country’s home sales posted an on-year gain.

The growth in April was most visible in the capital area with the number of home transactions in Seoul and the metropolitan area surging 29.2 percent on-year to 43,002. The area includes Incheon and Gyeonggi Province which, along with the capital Seoul, houses about half of the country’s 48 million population.

Home transactions in Seoul alone spiked 31.1 percent on-year to 13,689 while those in rural areas gained 7.5 percent to 49,689.

The ministry partly attributed on Feb. 26 the recent increase to a new government policy that strengthens efforts to collect taxes on monthly rent, a policy that is expected to drive up rent costs.

“Monthly figures show that over 80 percent of home transactions were made after the Feb. 26 measures were announced, apparently indicating the measures are encouraging people who actually need homes to purchase them,” a ministry official said.

By type, transactions of apartment units grew 16.4 percent on-year to 64,536 with sales of detached housing units and row houses also surging 13.5 percent and 19.7 percent, respectively. (Yonhap)