# The Korea Brief

> Korean housing prices, interest rates, living costs, visas and policy — explained in English using primary data from Korean government sources.

Every figure on this site is compiled from primary South Korean government data.
Each page states the date the underlying data was retrieved ("data as of") and links
the source records it was built from. Figures are matched against archived source data
before publication.

## Primary data sources

- Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport — apartment sale and lease transactions
- Bank of Korea (ECOS) — policy rate, exchange rates, price indices
- Statistics Korea (KOSIS) — consumer prices, demographics
- Financial Supervisory Service — deposit and loan rate disclosures
- Ministry of the Interior and Safety — public services and benefits
- Korea Tourism Organization — English tourism information service

## Sections

- [Housing](https://thekoreabrief.com/category/housing): Apartment prices, jeonse, rent — from Ministry of Land transaction records.
- [Money](https://thekoreabrief.com/category/money): Interest rates, savings, loans and the won, from Bank of Korea and FSS data.
- [Cost of Living](https://thekoreabrief.com/category/cost-of-living): What things actually cost in Korea, from Statistics Korea price indices.
- [Visa](https://thekoreabrief.com/category/visa): Residence status, requirements and the numbers behind them.
- [Policy](https://thekoreabrief.com/category/policy): Rules that affect foreign residents and buyers, with the data behind them.
- [Tax](https://thekoreabrief.com/category/tax): What foreign residents and owners owe, and how it is calculated.
- [Travel](https://thekoreabrief.com/category/travel): Festivals, regions and seasons — from Korea Tourism Organization data.

## Briefs

- [Can Foreigners Buy Property in Seoul? The 2025 Permit Rules](https://thekoreabrief.com/posts/foreigners-buying-property-seoul-permit): Since August 2025 most of Seoul sits in a foreign land transaction permit zone. What the permit requires, where it applies, and the obligations that follow a purchase. (data as of 2026-08-20)
- [Seoul Apartment Sales Fell 41% in a Month. Prices Barely Moved.](https://thekoreabrief.com/posts/seoul-apartment-sales-june-2026): Seoul apartment transactions dropped 41% from May to June 2026 across all 25 districts, but per-square-metre prices moved just -1.2%. Full district breakdown. (data as of 2026-08-20)

## Optional

- [Full text of all briefs](https://thekoreabrief.com/llms-full.txt)
- [About and sourcing method](https://thekoreabrief.com/about)
- [RSS feed](https://thekoreabrief.com/rss.xml)