Following Dongtan, Yongin Housing Market Heats Up: 'Balloon Effect' in Non-Regulated Areas

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As housing prices in Seoul continue to climb, buying demand is spreading to non-regulated areas in Gyeonggi Province to avoid the impact. Following Dongtan, Yongin—a key hub in the semiconductor industrial belt—is also showing signs of heating up.

Reporter Lee Sung-hoon has the story.

[Reporter]

This is an apartment complex near Guseong Station in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.

Bordering Hwaseong's Dongtan, where housing prices have recently surged, the area is seeing a steady stream of purchase inquiries fueled by expectations surrounding the opening of the GTX (Great Train eXpress) and the semiconductor industrial belt.

[Hong Soon-bum / Real Estate Agent in Giheung-gu, Yongin: People who visit Dongtan and see that prices have risen significantly seem to be looking for areas like this, which are relatively more affordable and have seen less of a price increase.]

Apartment prices in Seoul rose by 0.3% this week, marking a larger increase than the previous week.

This upward trend in Seoul is now spreading to non-regulated areas in the Seoul metropolitan region.

Dongtan recorded a 1.65% increase, the highest in the country, and its cumulative rise for this year reached 11.38%, making it the first city, county, or district in the nation to hit double digits.

Giheung, Yeongtong, and Guri also showed strong growth.

The volume of apartment transactions in major non-regulated areas of the Seoul metropolitan region during the first half of this year increased by 64.8% compared to the same period last year.

Experts believe that demand is shifting as the burden of entering regulated areas grows.

[Ham Young-jin / Head of Real Estate Research Lab at Woori Bank: A 'balloon effect' is occurring in areas with good accessibility to Seoul or relatively lower regulatory intensity, where both end-users and investors are entering. Both transaction volume and prices are rising.]

Market expectations that housing prices will continue to rise are also growing.

The Bank of Korea's housing price outlook index for June stood at 120, the highest level in five months.

With most properties from multi-home owners already absorbed and a persistent shortage of jeonse (long-term deposit rental) listings, the rise in Seoul apartment jeonse prices hit 0.35%, the highest in 12 years and 8 months.

While the government is emphasizing the expansion of supply, experts predict that upward pressure on the overall market, including both sales and rentals, will persist until actual move-in volumes become visible.

(Reported by Lee Byung-joo | Video by Jo Moo-hwan)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.