Property
No private land ownership; housing held by allocation
All land is owned by the state or by cooperatives. Housing is allocated administratively rather than bought, though an unofficial market in occupancy rights is widely reported.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Allocation is administrative; there is no public land register accessible to the outside world.
Governing law
- Land Law of the DPRK
- Civil Law of the DPRK
- Law on Real Estate Management
In practice
Because ownership is not private, what changes hands in practice is a use or occupancy entitlement, transferred informally and without enforceable registered title. Published civil law recognises personal property in household goods and some produce. There is no mortgage market and no mechanism by which a foreign person could acquire land. Reporting on the informal housing market comes from defector testimony and satellite analysis rather than official statistics, so it is indicative rather than verified.