Seoul, Feb 6 (IANS): The proportion of apartments bought by South Koreans in their 30s or younger reached an all-time high last year amid "panic buying" over soaring housing prices, data showed on Sunday.

The buyers of this age group accounted for 31 percent of the country's total apartment sales in 2021, up from 29.2 per cent in 2020, according to the data compiled by the Korea Real Estate Board.

The agency began compiling the related data in 2019, and the figure for the year came to 28.3 per cent, reports Yonhap News Agency.

In Seoul, 41.7 per cent of the total apartment purchases last year were made by those in their 30s or younger, compared with 37.3 per cent in 2020 and 31.8 per cent in 2019.

The surrounding Gyeonggi Province and the western port city of Incheon also saw the proportion rise about 6 per cent, each, on-year to 36.3 per cent and 33.2 per cent, respectively, the data showed.

The country's housing prices have skyrocketed over the past couple of years, which prompted more young people to rush to the real estate market by taking out loans out of fears that they may never be able to own a home if they wait any longer.

But that trend has shown signs of decreasing from the second half of last year following the government's tougher lending regulations, according to the agency.

Since July last year, the government has applied stricter lending calculations for mortgage loans to put a lid on growing household debt.

Sales prices of apartments in Seoul fell 0.01 per cent in the fourth week of January from a week earlier, marking the first decline in 20 months, the agency said.

The government expected the country's housing prices to fall at a faster pace amid the lending rules and the central bank's rate hike.