The number of unsold homes nationwide was 62,489 at the end of December, up 7.9 percent from a month earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Unsold houses began to expand from about 14,000 in late 2021 due to higher borrowing costs, but the number stayed downward for nine consecutive months through November amid a low supply of new homes.
Local builders refrained from new home construction amid the faltering housing market.
The country's central bank had left its policy rate unchanged at 3.50 percent since January 2023, after increasing it by 3.0 percentage points for the past one and a half years.
The number of unsold homes in the capital Seoul and its surrounding metropolitan area, in which about half of the country's population resides, jumped 43.3 percent from a month earlier to 10,031 at the end of December.
The number in other areas gained 3.0 percent to 52,458 in the cited month.
The number of housing permits was 388,891 in 2023, down 25.5 percent compared to the previous year.
The number of housing starts tumbled 45.4 percent to 209,351 last year across the country.
The number of home transactions came in at 555,054 in 2023, up 9.1 percent from a year earlier.
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