Office-tel Market in Gyeonggi Province Stalls... Sale Prices Fall for the First Time in 9 Months

Sangga Information Research Institute April Officetel Transaction Status Report

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] The real estate market downturn has extended to officetels. The average nationwide officetel sale price fell for the first time in nine months, and more than half of the officetels that held subscription events this year remained unsold.

On the 12th, the Commercial Information Research Institute analyzed data from the Korea Real Estate Board and reported that last month, the average nationwide officetel sale price was 178.426 million KRW. This is a decrease of 67,000 KRW compared to the previous month’s 178.493 million KRW. It is the first decline in the average nationwide officetel sale price in nine months since July last year.

The average sale price of officetels in Seoul rose by 120,000 KRW to 229.38 million KRW compared to the previous month, but most other regions saw declines, including Busan (down 280,000 KRW), Daegu (down 273,000 KRW), Ulsan (down 264,000 KRW), and Gyeonggi (down 2.17 million KRW).

The enthusiasm for officetel subscriptions has also cooled. Among the 14 officetels nationwide that held subscription events this year, 8 failed to meet their subscription targets.

However, there is a polarization by region, as last month’s officetel sale in Daejeon recorded a high subscription competition rate of 22.9 to 1, and the officetel sale in Incheon in March showed an even higher rate of 189.6 to 1.

Jo Hyuntaek, a researcher at the Commercial Information Research Institute, said, "Officetels have attracted interest as an alternative to apartments because they do not require subscription points, allow small-scale investment, and are not subject to source-of-funds investigations. However, as supply has increased in recent years, polarization has intensified, so before investing, one should carefully consider the supply status of nearby officetels, underlying demand, vacancy rates, and other factors."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.