Land Ministry releases first confirmed figures under new dual-reporting system
Preliminary count cut by 42,000 units due to duplicate entries
Seoul housing approvals and groundbreakings jump more than 40% this year
Ministry expects Seoul to hit annual permit target of 65,000 units
The number of housing units completed nationwide last year came in at approximately 300,000 — more than 40,000 fewer than the preliminary figure — according to the first confirmed statistics released under a new dual-reporting system introduced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Permits and groundbreakings for the same year reached roughly 390,000 and 270,000 units, respectively.
The ministry's confirmed 2025 housing construction statistics, released Wednesday, put nationwide permit approvals at 388,000 units last year, a slight increase from the 380,000 units tallied by adding up monthly preliminary figures.
The ministry overhauled its housing statistics reporting system in September last year, adopting a two-track approach that separates preliminary monthly figures from a final confirmed count. Previously, it had processed administrative data from local governments through the building administration system and published monthly figures through the Housing Supply Statistics Information System.
The old method had a structural flaw: figures could shift after publication due to delayed data entry by local officials, changes in unit counts, and canceled approvals, meaning published supply numbers did not always reflect actual supply. Under the new system, monthly preliminary figures are still released first, with a final confirmed count — incorporating all subsequent revisions — published the following September.
In the first confirmed figures released under the new system, groundbreaking and completion counts both came in below preliminary estimates. Nationwide groundbreakings last year totaled 272,000 units, down from the preliminary 273,000, while completions stood at 300,000 units, sharply below the preliminary 342,000. The Greater Seoul area saw completions fall by more than 20,000 units, from 166,000 to 144,000.
The ministry attributed the large gap between preliminary and confirmed completion figures to duplicate entries in statistics covering January through September of last year — the period before the new reporting system took effect.
"The errors stemmed from delayed data entry by local governments and duplicate entries for temporary and final occupancy approvals," said Jang Woo-cheol, the ministry's director of housing policy. "That is why we undertook a full overhaul of the statistics system in September last year with approval from the Ministry of Statistics. The duplicate-counting problem in completion figures has been resolved from October onward, so this year's completion statistics should be error-free."
Meanwhile, cumulative supply indicators for the Greater Seoul area this year have improved compared with the same period last year. Housing permit approvals in the metropolitan area from January through August reached 96,056 units, up 5.4 percent from 91,165 units in the same period last year. Seoul alone recorded 39,940 approved units, a jump of 40.4 percent from 28,441 units a year earlier.
The ministry said it expects Seoul to meet its annual permit target of 65,000 units by year-end if the trend continues.
"It is encouraging that leading supply indicators such as permits and groundbreakings are rising," Jang said. "Seoul's long-term annual average for housing permits is 63,000 units, and we expect this year's figure to exceed that."
He added that developer demand had revived thanks to tax and financing support packages introduced through the May 22 new-build purchase agreement program and the Aug. 13 housing supply measures, and that the ministry would concentrate its supply efforts through the operation of a permit assistance center.
Groundbreakings in the Greater Seoul area from January through August totaled 86,739 units, up 1.5 percent from 85,424 units in the same period last year. In Seoul, groundbreakings rose 41.1 percent to 20,679 units from 14,654 units. By housing type, apartment groundbreakings nationwide from January through August reached 136,996 units, up 14.1 percent from 120,074 units in the same period last year.
However, cumulative completions in the Greater Seoul area this year totaled 80,075 units through August, down 21.6 percent from 102,178 units in the same period last year.
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