Home transactions in South Korea tumbled more than 50 percent in January amid tough lending curbs and rising interest rates, government data showed Monday.

The number of homes changing hands nationwide stood at 41,709 units last month, down 54 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Compared with the previous month, the January tally was down 22.4 percent.

The number of home transactions in the greater Seoul area, which includes the western port city of Incheon and the adjacent province of Gyeonggi, plunged 65.6 percent on-year, with that in the rest of the country shrinking 41.4 percent.

January's nosedive came amid tighter restrictions on mortgages and rising lending rates in the wake of the central bank's hike of the country's benchmark interest rate.

In a bid to rein in rising home prices and household debt, the government has made it harder for homebuyers to take out mortgages.

In mid-January, the central Bank of Korea (BOK) raised the country's policy rate by a quarter percentage point to 1.25 percent, the third rate increase since August, in a bid to help tame inflation and household debt.

The ministry, meanwhile, said the country's new home permits surged 51.3 percent on-year to 39,614 units in January.

New construction permits in the capital area jumped 24.7 percent, and those in the rest of the country spiked 74.4 percent. Permits in Seoul soared 40.6 percent.

Yet, the number of groundbreakings for new homes dipped 32.6 percent on-year to 18,848 units last month, with the tally for the capital area sinking 40.4 percent, according to the data. (Yonhap)