Population mobility falls in July amid housing market slowdown

South Korea saw a drop in population mobility in July as the housing market slowed, with fewer people moving to new residences compared to a year ago, according to data released on Wednesday. A total of 468,000 individuals changed their homes in July, marking an 86,000-person decrease from July 2025, and the lowest figure since July 2022.

The population mobility rate, which indicates the number of relocators per 100 residents, declined by 2 percentage points to 10.8 percent. The decline coincided with a drop in home transactions in May and June, reflected in the July data, which fell by 0.9 percent year-on-year. Statistics officials suggested that the downturn might also be due to a base effect, as housing indicators were robust in July 2024.

Regionally, Seoul experienced a net outflow of 6,108 people, while South Gyeongsang Province and Busan recorded net outflows of 813 and 661 people, respectively. Conversely, Gyeonggi Province saw a net inflow of 5,106 people, followed by Incheon, located west of Seoul, with 2,547 net outflows.