Seoul House Prices Rise for 82nd Consecutive Week, Concentrated Below 1.5 Billion Won

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Even as apartment transactions in Seoul decline, housing prices have continued their upward trend for 82 consecutive weeks. While tightened lending regulations have dampened overall purchasing power, demand remains centered around relatively affordable mid-to-low-priced apartments.

Reporter Lee Seong-hoon has the story.

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This is an apartment complex in Sanggye-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul.

It is a large complex with around 2,800 households, and the local real estate sentiment is that transactions have noticeably decreased recently.

[Kim Kyung-sook / Real Estate Agent in Nowon-gu, Seoul : Transactions surged when the grace period for heavy capital gains tax was about to end. Now, there are not many properties available at those elevated prices.]

The total transaction volume of apartments across Seoul peaked at around 8,900 cases in May, coinciding with the end of the capital gains tax grace period, before dropping to the 5,000 range in June and July. Last month, based on current reporting data, it plummeted to around 2,600 cases.

Although transactions have significantly shrunk, apartment prices in Seoul have continued to rise for 82 weeks straight.

Last week, Seoul apartment prices rose by 0.22%, with outer districts such as Seongbuk-gu, Jungrang-gu, and Nowon-gu showing sharp increases.

This contrasts with Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu, where prices have been falling for four consecutive weeks.

Looking at the proportion of transactions by price range, the share of homes priced at 900 million won or less increased from 47% in January of this year to 54% last month, while the share of transactions exceeding 1.5 billion won decreased from 21% to 19% over the same period.

Because demand for mid-to-low-priced apartments remains and listings are scarce, transactions continue to take place despite higher prices.

Amid instability in the leasing market driven by a shortage of jeonse (lump-sum housing deposit) listings, demand to switch from renting to buying is also flowing into mid-to-low-priced apartments.

[Ham Young-jin / Head of Woori Bank Real Estate Research Lab : Although interest rates are rising and loans are being regulated, housing demand cannot be said to be lower than in the past. Because the leasing market is unstable, prices do not easily fall despite low transaction volumes, and a situation where prices trend upward is likely to persist.]

The finalized details of the tax law revision submitted to the National Assembly, along with the timing and implementation of any additional interest rate hikes, are expected to be major variables shaping future transaction trends.

(Video Editing: Choi Hye-ran, VJ: Jung Han-wook)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.