S.Korean builders' revenue growth hits 20-year low in 2018

SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- South Korean builders' revenue growth hit a 20-year low last year on the government's efforts to control speculative investment in the real estate market, statistical office data showed Wednesday.

The number of domestic construction companies was 75,421 in 2018, up 4.2 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.

Revenue for the builders amounted to 394.2 trillion won (338.3 billion U.S. dollars) last year, up 0.6 percent from a year ago.

It marked the lowest increase since 1999 when the construction firms' revenue tumbled 11.1 percent on the negative effect from the Asian foreign exchange crisis.

The slower expansion in builders' revenue came as the government unveiled a series of measures to curb speculative investment in the property market.

Households rushed to buy new homes with borrowed money amid the protracted trend of low policy rate.

The country's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate from 1.75 percent to 1.50 percent in July, before lowering it further to a record low of 1.25 percent in October.

Revenue for top 100 local builders grew 5.5 percent last year, but sales for the remaining construction firms declined 2.1 percent.

The number of employees in the construction sector was 1,698,000 in 2018, up 1.7 percent from the previous year.

Temporary or daily workers posted the largest portion of 922,000, or 54 percent of the total. It was up 2.0 percent from a year earlier.