Foreign couple borrowed over $2 million to buy a Seoul house

An expatriate couple recently bought a 5.3 billion won (about 3.66 million U.S. dollars) apartment in Seoul's speculative hotspot and registered it jointly. In the process, the husband borrowed money from a corporation he heads. The wife also borrowed money from her husband's company. The 3.15 billion won (about 2.173 million dollars) they borrowed amounted to 59.4 percent of the total price of the apartment. The Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation Ministry also found circumstantial evidence that the couple's wife received an illegal gift from her parents. Thus, they reported them to the National Tax Service for excessive borrowing from related parties and suspected illegal gifts.

According to the ministry on Sunday, it has detected 282 cases of foreign real estate transactions suspected of such violations. The ministry investigated 557 abnormal transactions out of 13,758 real estate transactions involving foreigners from January last year to June this year, including houses, land, and office buildings. The 282 cases entailed a total of 433 suspected violations.

By nationality, Chinese accounted for 192 cases (44.3 percent), or nearly half. Americans (23.1 percent) and Australians (5.1 percent) followed. By region, foreigners bought properties in Gyeonggi (29.6 percent), Seoul (14.8 percent), North Chungcheong Province (13.6 percent), and Incheon (9.2 percent).

The ministry plans to notify relevant agencies, such as the Justice Ministry and the Financial Services Commission, of any suspected illegal transactions it has detected. “We will continue to investigate abnormal transactions in new housing sites, orchestrated real estate transactions, and other irregularities, and continue to respond to disruptive real estate transactions,” the ministry said.


이축복기자 bless@donga.com