The nation’s official land prices have gained four-point-five percent, the steepest rise in eight years.
  
In particular, high growth in prices were reported in Jeju Island and in the cities of Sejong and Ulsan, which offer various development opportunities.
  
A survey by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport shows that government-set land prices rose four-point-five percent on average, the highest growth rate since nine-point-six percent posted in 2008.
  
Official land prices jumped three-point-eight percent in Seoul and the metropolitan area, seven-point-four percent in large cities and five-point-eight percent in smaller cities and counties.
  
By region, Jeju saw the highest growth at 19-point-four percent. Prices in the cities of Sejong, Ulsan and Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province also jumped more than the nationwide average.
 
An area in Myeongdong, Seoul, was surveyed as the nation’s most expensive plot of land for the 13th consecutive year. The land, which now houses a cosmetics shop, costs 274 million won, or more than 220-thousand U.S. dollars, per three-point-three square meters.

The cheapest plot of the same size was in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, which cost 528 won, or approximately 40 cents.
  
With official land prices jumping at their highest in eight years, land owners are predicted to bear a bigger tax burden.