House and Vacant Lot Transactions and Their Characteristics in Hanseong-bu during the Late Joseon: Based on the analysis of the transaction documents housed at Kawai Library of Kyoto University

This study aims to analyze the patterns and characteristics of house transactions in the Hanseong-bu area during the late Joseon. The main data that the investigator consulted came from the documents related to house transactions housed at Kyoto University of Japan. They are part of Korea's old documents taken out of the country to Japan during the colonial years. The focus was on the transaction records for houses and vacant lots within the five sections of Hanseong-bu between the middle 17th century and the middle 19th century. As for transaction methods, they showed a tendency of Gyeonggwan transactions(經官賣買) to have them notarized by the Hanseong-bu office until the middle 18th century. This characteristic was different from other areas where Baekmun transactions(白文賣買) completed only with a contract between the parties were common for land and houses with Gyeonggwan transactions generally implemented for servant transactions. As for the content of transactions, transaction sizes were about 50~60 rooms(間) in general. It was the most prominent that the same transaction items were traded consecutively at a short time cycle. Transactions were frequent. There were three cases in which it took less than a year to resell a house after its purchase. It took less than three years to resell in 50% of the cases. Gyeonggwan transactions and short transaction cycles were attributed to various causes including the shortage of hoses and lots and diverse ways of dwelling due to frequent population movement. Considering that the same phenomenon was found in land transactions in Hanseong-bu, there is a need to broaden the scope of finding the causes to the degree of urbanization or commercialization and differences in the perceptions of houses and land as one's property.