The number of South Koreans who moved to different residences in the country fell for the fifth straight month in May as housing transactions shrank, data showed Wednesday.

The number of people who changed their residences fell 2.2 percent on-year to 557,000 last month, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

It marked the fifth consecutive month of decline after population mobility rose for the seventh month in December 2020 amid skyrocketing home prices.

The decline was mainly attributable to tepid housing transactions and fewer newly built apartments for people to move in, according to the statistics agency.

The population mobility rate -- the number of those relocating per 100 people -- reached 12.8 percent in May, down 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier.

In February, the government unveiled a plan to increase the number of new homes by up to 836,000 nationwide in the next four years in a bid to help stabilize rising housing prices.

But home prices still ran high despite a series of measures to stabilize the housing market, including tax hikes and loan regulations. (Yonhap)