▲ Teheran-ro in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where businesses are densely concentrated
Over the past decade, the proportion of domestic listed companies headquartered in the capital region has increased.
According to a comparative analysis released today (August 12) by corporate data research firm CEO Score of the headquarters locations of companies listed on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and Kosdaq markets—comparing the end of 2016 (1,898 companies) to the end of last month (2,554 companies)—companies located in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon accounted for 71.6% (1,827 companies) at the end of last month.
This is a 1.percentage-point (502 companies) increase compared to 2016.
CEO Score interpreted this as showing that despite successive governments pushing policies to relocate businesses to regional areas to ease the concentration of population and economic power in the capital region, the vast majority of companies still choose the capital area.
Over the past 10 years, the proportion of listed companies in Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province dropped by 1.5 percentage points from 9.6% to 8.1%, while Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province saw a 0.7 percentage-point decrease from 5.5% to 4.8%.
Daejeon, Chungcheong, and Sejong inched up by 0.7 percentage points to 10.7%, and South Jeolla, Gwangju, and North Jeolla increased by just 0.1 percentage points to 2.9%.
This is interpreted as being driven by the fact that the majority of newly listed companies over this period are located in the capital region, while relatively few companies have moved from the capital region to regional areas.
Out of the 877 companies newly listed since 2016, 75.4% were found to have their headquarters in the capital region.
These include 327 in Seoul and 300 in Gyeonggi Province.
Within Gyeonggi Province, newly listed companies were concentrated in southern areas such as Seongnam, home to Pangyo (82 companies), and Hwaseong, home to Dongtan (39 companies).
Over the past decade, only 29 companies relocated from the capital region to regional areas, including HMM (Seoul to Busan) and Hyundai Elevator (Gyeonggi to North Chungcheong).
Meanwhile, 25 companies moved from regional areas to the capital region.
Within the capital region over the 10-year period, the proportion of companies located in Seoul decreased slightly, whereas the proportions for Incheon and Gyeonggi Province increased.
Seoul dropped 1.2 percentage points from 38.7% (734 companies) in 2016 to 37.5% (957 companies) this year.
Over the same period, Incheon and Gyeonggi increased by 3 percentage points (279 companies) from 31.1% (591 companies) to 34.1% (870 companies).
This is interpreted as the result of an increasing number of companies moving to business clusters in the outskirts of the capital region, such as Incheon and Gyeonggi, as real estate prices in Seoul surged.
Compared to 10 years ago, the district in Seoul that saw the largest increase in listed companies was Gangnam-gu, rising from 204 companies in 2016 to 266 companies this year.
It was followed by Gangseo-gu (home to Magok Industrial Complex), Songpa-gu, and Yongsan-gu in terms of growth.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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