▲ Apartment complexes near Dongtan Station in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, on June 29.
The government has imposed triple regulations on three areas—Guri, Dongtan in Hwaseong, and Giheung in Yongin—due to a recent sharp rise in apartment prices. This surge was driven by investment demand spilling over into these previously non-regulated areas following the October 15 measures last year, compounded by recent positive news regarding large performance bonuses at semiconductor companies.
However, some are criticizing the move as a delayed response, suggesting that the government may have postponed the designation of these areas as regulated zones due to concerns over local elections, despite significant price increases since the end of last year.
With this latest addition, the number of areas in the Seoul metropolitan region under triple regulations has reached 40, including the 37 areas designated during the October 15 measures—which covered all 25 districts in Seoul and 12 areas in Gyeonggi Province—along with the newly added Dongtan, Guri, and Giheung.
The newly regulated areas of Dongtan, Guri, and Giheung have seen apartment prices skyrocket this year due to a combination of factors: the balloon effect from non-regulated areas, large performance bonuses from semiconductor firms, improvements in transportation such as the Great Train Express (GTX), and the promotion of urban renewal projects.
Under current quantitative criteria for regulated areas, a region is designated as an adjustment target area if housing price growth over the previous three months exceeds 1.3 times the consumer price inflation rate of the relevant city or province. For designation as a speculative zone, the threshold is 1.5 times. The final decision is made by the Residential Policy Deliberation Committee, and these three areas have consistently exceeded these benchmarks recently.
Between March and May, the consumer price inflation rate in Gyeonggi Province was 1.38%. According to Korea Real Estate Board data, areas are subject to regulation if housing prices rise by more than 1.79% for adjustment target areas or 2.06% for speculative zones.
During this period, housing prices in Dongtan, Hwaseong, jumped by 3.85%, while Guri rose by 3.53% and Giheung by 2.57%, meeting the criteria for regulation.
In particular, Dongtan, which has shown signs of overheating, saw housing demand surge due to the GTX transportation project and the payment of large performance bonuses by semiconductor companies like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Its monthly price growth rate climbed from 0.78% in February to 1.10% in March and 1.13% in April, further accelerating to 1.57% last month following the settlement of performance bonuses between Samsung Electronics and its labor union.
In the third week of June, the weekly apartment price growth rate in Dongtan reached 2.2%, showing a sharp upward trend, while instances of homeowners canceling contracts have also increased significantly.
Nevertheless, critics argue that the regulations are a case of being too little, too late, noting that prices for popular apartments in these areas had already surged by hundreds of millions of won due to the balloon effect from the October 15 measures, with gap investments rising sharply.
Guri, which is adjacent to Seoul, saw a 1.11% price increase in November—the month after it was excluded from the October 15 measures—and has maintained a growth rate in the 1% range since. Dongtan has also seen monthly growth in the 1% range since February of this year, when it was separated into its own administrative district.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.