Seoul House Prices Rise for 82 Consecutive Weeks, Driven by Demand Under 1.5 Billion Won

[Anchor]

Even as apartment transactions in Seoul decrease, home prices continue to rise for the 82nd consecutive week. Although tightened loan regulations have reduced overall purchasing power, demand remains concentrated around relatively affordable, mid-to-low-priced apartments.

Reporter Lee Seong-hoon has the story.

[Reporter]

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 coming to an end. Now, there are not many properties left at those increased prices.]

The total volume of apartment transactions in Seoul rose to about 8,900 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, the figure fell to about 2,600.

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

Last week, apartment prices in Seoul rose by 0.22%, with outer districts such as Seongbuk-gu, Jungnang-gu, and Nowon-gu showing larger 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 dropped from 21% to 19% gospodarstwo.

Because demand for mid-to-low-priced apartments remains and listings are scarce, transactions are taking place even at higher prices.

Amid instability in the leasing market due to a shortage of jeonse (lump-sum lease) properties, demand to switch 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 situations where prices trend upward can still occur.]

The finalized details of the tax revision bill sent to the National Assembly, as well as whether and when additional interest rate hikes will occur, are expected to be major variables in future transaction trends.

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