▲ Panaromic view of apartment complexes in the Gangnam area of Seoul
The "decoupling" phenomenon—where housing prices in outer areas and lower-tier markets continue to rise despite falling prices in Seoul's Gangnam district—is clearly expanding beyond Seoul.
An unusual trend has recently been detected even in previously less-attention areas, as housing prices in preferred locations surge steeply centered around the "semiconductor belt" in southern Gyeonggi Province, accompanied by a shortage of lease and jeonse (lump-sum housing deposit) listings.
According to the Korea Real Estate Board on October 18, the apartment price growth rate in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province, an unregulated area, reached 0.72% in the second week of October, up 0.45 percentage points from the previous week.
This region has accumulated a 9.26% increase so far this year, compared to a 0.30% decline during the same period last year.
Byeongjeom-gu in Hwaseong, also an unregulated area, recorded a cumulative growth rate of 7.72% up to this year, while posting a 0.56% increase in the second week of October, expanding its growth margin by 0.23 percentage points from the previous week.
A similar trend has been detected in Bucheon, considered a less popular area in Gyeonggi Province.
Wonmi-gu in Bucheon maintained a weekly growth rate in the 0.30% range starting last month before recording a high surge of 0.52% in the second week of October.
The cumulative growth rate of Wonmi-gu this year stands at 6.78%, which is about 34 times that of the same period last year (0.20%).
Notable upward trends are also appearing in regions that are regulated but have been relatively less popular.
At Maegyo-yeorum Prugio SK View in Maegyo-dong, Paldal-gu, Suwon, a 10th-floor unit with a private area of 84 square meters was traded for 1.19 billion won on October 8.
Compared to transactions mostly hovering in the 900 million won range until early this year, this represents an increase of over 200 million won.
The asking price for an 84-square-meter unit in this complex, a newly built-level property completed in 2023, recently jumped up to 1.3 billion won.
Uiwang also saw its cumulative growth rate stall at a mere 0.89% by the second week of October last year, but this year it is on the verge of entering double-digit growth with 9.62% over the same period.
The weekly trading price in this region rose 0.60% in the second week of October.
While Gangnam-gu in Seoul, a past leader in housing prices, remains weak with a cumulative fluctuation rate of -0.95% this year and Seocho-gu hovers around a flat line at 0.81%, lower-and-mid-tier markets are making strong advances extending beyond Seoul into the Gyeonggi region.
Within Seoul, while the Gangnam area showed weakness, 14 autonomous districts—centered around mid-to-lower tiers including representative outer low-priced areas such as Jungnang-gu (10.77%) and Gangbuk-gu (10.81%)—recorded double-digit cumulative growth rates this year.
In addition, the Gyeonggi region has shown clear strength centered on areas influenced by factors such as accessibility to Seoul, proximity to semiconductor workplaces in southern Gyeonggi, recent in-house housing loans from Samsung Electronics, and a decrease in jeonse and monthly rental listings.
Based on Korea Real Estate Board figures, Gyeonggi Province accounted for 8 out of the top 10 regions in terms of cumulative apartment sales price growth rates for the year up to the second week of October.
This is the complete opposite of last year's annual top 10, which included only two regions from Gyeonggi Province.
Starting with Dongtan-gu in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province (20.14%), which ranks first in growth this year, Gwangmyeong (16.70%), Yeongtong-gu in Suwon (16.19%), Bundang-gu in Seongnam (16.01%), Dongan-gu in Anyang (15.81%), Suji-gu in Yongin (15.56%), Giheung-gu in Yongin (13.95%), and Jungwon-gu in Seongnam (13.88%)—totaling 8 regions in Gyeonggi Province—ranked at the very top.
The two Seoul regions included in the top 10 are Seongbuk-gu (15.68%) and Seodaemun-gu (13.26%).
In last year's top 10, apart from Gwacheon (20.04%) and Bundang-gu in Seongnam (19.12%), all other 8 spots were taken by Seoul.
The recent movement in the Gyeonggi region, including unregulated areas, is interpreted as reflecting a trend where tenants from popular regulated areas—where sale and jeonse prices have soared and lease listings have decreased—are moving to less-preferred areas and shifting to purchasing.
For instance, Yeongtong-gu in Suwon, which ranks third in sales price growth this year, also saw jeonse prices rise by 11.32%.
According to Asil, a real estate big data platform, jeonse listings in the district increased to 403 cases on January 9 this year, but dropped by 27.8% to 291 cases on October 17.
Nam Hyuk-woo, a real estate researcher at Woori Bank, said, "While the strong price trend in southern Gyeonggi is spreading due to liquidity inflows like Samsung Electronics' in-house loans, tenants in areas where prices have spiked significantly, such as Suwon, are relocating to other regions and purchasing lower-priced properties amid a shortage of jeonse and monthly rental listings, causing prices in those destination areas to rise as well."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.