Unbridled Sejong House Prices... Already Exceeding 1.7 Billion Won

Cheotmaeul 3-danji 149㎡ Rises 950 Million KRW in 5 Years
Sejong Transactions Over 1 Billion KRW Increase from 9 Last Year to 159 This Year
Appraisal Institute Reports Sejong with Highest Regional Price Increase at 43%

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim On-yu] "It's like pouring oil on a burning house when it comes to the housing prices."

This was the reaction from real estate agencies around Sejong upon hearing the ruling Democratic Party's announcement on the plan to relocate the National Assembly to the administrative city on the 9th. Since the beginning of this year, apartment sale prices in Sejong have surged by 43%, already surpassing most metropolitan area housing prices. With the ruling party presenting a concrete blueprint for the National Assembly's relocation, concerns are spreading that the Sejong real estate market could spiral out of control.

According to frontline real estate agencies and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's actual transaction price disclosure system on the day, a 149.71㎡ (exclusive area) apartment in Hansol-dong, First Village Complex 3, changed hands for 1.7 billion KRW on the 1st of this month. This is the highest recorded apartment transaction price in Sejong's history. It surpassed the previous highest price of 1.57 billion KRW recorded on August 8th for a 109.96㎡ unit in Boram-dong, Horyeoul Village Complex 10, Joongheung S-Class, which was right after the Democratic Party mentioned the administrative capital relocation.

The apartment traded this time is a 26-story penthouse with a view of the Geum River, which had not been traded since it was sold for 750 million KRW in May 2015. Compared to a similar-sized 149.78㎡ apartment that was traded for 1.48 billion KRW in August, this price is 220 million KRW higher. A representative from Hansol-dong A Real Estate Agency said, "Apartments with excellent views and high rarity value are almost non-existent on the market, and combined with expectations for the administrative capital relocation, prices are skyrocketing."

Since discussions about relocating the administrative capital began, apartment prices in Sejong have already surpassed most metropolitan area housing prices. This year alone, there have been 159 apartment sales transactions over 1 billion KRW in Sejong. Last year, there were only 9 transactions exceeding 1 billion KRW. In particular, cases where the sale price of small to medium-sized 84㎡ apartments exceeded 1 billion KRW have surged. Just last month, in four complexes within Sejong City, the actual transaction price for 84㎡ units surpassed 1 billion KRW.

Apartment prices in Sejong, which had been on the rise since the beginning of the year, started to climb rapidly after Daejeon was designated as a regulated area under the June 17 real estate measures. Amid this, when the ruling party announced its plan to promote the administrative capital relocation in July, Sejong housing prices went unchecked. According to the Korea Real Estate Board, as of last month, Sejong recorded the highest apartment sale price increase rate nationwide this year at 43.64%. This is 2.7 times higher than Daejeon (16.01%), which ranks second among metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide. Moreover, the rise in jeonse (long-term lease) prices is even steeper. Jeonse prices have jumped 49.34% this year, nearly four times the increase rate of Ulsan (12.97%), which ranks second. Ham Young-jik, head of Zigbang Big Data Lab, explained, "While demand for moving into Sejong continues to grow steadily, the reduction in new housing supply is causing jeonse prices to rise sharply."

The apartment sale price increase rate in Sejong, which reached 9.20% in August, slowed to 0.9% last month, showing signs of stabilization. However, the market expects that the ruling party's announcement of the National Assembly relocation plan will reignite the previously subdued upward trend in Sejong housing prices. A representative from Serom-dong B Real Estate Agency said, "As the administrative capital relocation plan becomes more concrete, phone inquiries that had quieted down have started to increase again this month," adding, "A significant portion of the demand is from people trying to move into Sejong from nearby areas like Daejeon." Some voices express concerns that the ruling party's administrative capital relocation discussions may not disperse the overpopulated population in the metropolitan area but instead only drive up Sejong housing prices and cause population outflow from surrounding regions.

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