One Year Since Oct. 15 Measures: Jeonse Listings Shrink, Tenant Burdens Grow

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The jeonse (lump-sum deposit housing lease) and monthly rent crisis is worsening day by day. As an increasing number of homeowners switch jeonse properties to monthly rent due to tax issues or choose to move in themselves, both jeonse and monthly rental prices have surged significantly.

Reporter Jeon Hyeong-u has the story.

[Reporter]

Park Sang-min, an office worker in his 30s, is facing the prospect of having to leave the Seoul apartment where he has lived under a jeonse contract for the past two years.

The new landlord asked him to move out, stating that they intend to move in and live there themselves.

With his current deposit level, it is difficult to find another jeonse home in Seoul, so he is now looking into Gyeonggi Province.

[Park Sang-min / Jeonse Tenant: With jeonse prices having nearly doubled, and given that I don't have the capacity to earn such a large amount within two years, I have so many concerns right now.]

Over the one year since the October 15 measures, overall jeonse prices for apartments in Seoul have risen by 10.3%.

The upward trend was particularly noticeable in outer areas of Seoul.

We visited the largest apartment complex in Seoul to see how much jeonse prices have gone up.

For an 84-square-meter unit, prices have surged from 900 million won two years ago to 1.6 billion won.

This is a massive complex consisting of 12,000 households, but the number of registered jeonse listings across all sizes currently stands at around 700 households.

The trend of jeonse shifting into monthly rent has also increased the burden on tenants.

This year, monthly rent transactions surpassed jeonse transactions in Seoul apartment leases, marking the first time since statistics began based on the cumulative data from January to August.

[Kim Jong-woo / Real Estate Agent in Gangdong-gu, Seoul: Older property owners sometimes prefer monthly rent over jeonse as it helps supplement their living expenses.]

Voices are emerging pointing out that the government's real estate policies have been overly focused on curbing purchase prices.

Experts note that with apartment supply projected to decline through 2028 and a time lag involved in additional apartment supply, short-term supply measures that can be utilized as rental housing are needed.

[Kwon Dae-jung / Chair Professor, Department of Economics and Real Estate, Hansung University: To alleviate the shrinking volume of jeonse and monthly rental properties and their soaring prices, I believe it is time for a short-term housing supply policy that eases regulations on non-apartment sectors.]

There are also opinions suggesting that the government should selectively lift land transaction permission zones in outer areas of Seoul to induce jeonse listings, or adjust the pace of reducing tax benefits for rental business operators so that rental housing stock does not plummet all at once.

(Video by: Kim Hak-mo, Video Editing by: Park Choon-bae)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.