South Korean construction companies racked up monthly record domestic orders in September, aided by a recovery in the local property market and a series of massive construction projects, data showed Thursday.
  

According to the data compiled by the Construction Association of Korea, local builders received a combined 20.41 trillion won ($17.9 billion) worth of orders in September, more than doubling from a year earlier.
  

Of the orders tallied, they bagged 18.49 trillion won worth of domestic orders in September, marking the highest-ever number on a monthly basis.
  

The September figure also marks a 171 percent rise from a year earlier, the data showed.
  

The private-sector increase stemmed mostly from a slew of construction projects buoyed by an improving housing market.
  

Local builders received a slew of plant orders from refiners and private power generators, but orders from the public sector dipped 30 percent on-year to 1.92 trillion won over the cited period.   
  

An association official predicted that the number of public sector contracts will likely increase in the second half as the government is enforcing its extra budget and pushing for social overhead capital spending. (Yonhap)