9.3% of Capital Region Homeowners Plan to Move... Lowest in 10 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Yuri] It has been revealed that moving plans among homeowners in the Seoul metropolitan area have significantly decreased.

Fides Development, in collaboration with Daewoo Construction, Aegis Asset Management, Korea Asset Trust, and Haean Architecture, conducted the "2020 Residential Space Consumer Awareness Survey" through The Research Group targeting 1,000 homeowners in the metropolitan area. On the 10th, they announced that 9.3% (93 people) responded that they "have plans to move" when asked about future moving plans. This is a decrease of 12.2 percentage points compared to the previous year (21.5%).

This is the lowest rate in the past 10 years. The response "have plans to move" fluctuated between 20.2% and 30.4% over the past decade, but this year is the only time it has fallen below 20%. It recorded 30.4% in 2017, 25.9% in 2018, and 21.5% in 2019, showing a continuous decline recently before sharply dropping this year. Among those who responded that they have moving plans, 94.6% said they would "sell their current home and move to another home," 4.3% said they would "rent out their current home and move to another home," and 1.1% said they would "sell their current home and move to a rental."

Regarding spaces that need change after the outbreak of COVID-19, respondents answered in order: living room (66.0%), kitchen/dining room (60.0%), veranda/balcony (48.8%), master bedroom (43.1%), and entrance (40.5%).

For the living room, respondents indicated the need for changes such as "expanding space," "installing home training areas and equipment," and "creating a space for family togetherness." For the kitchen/dining room, the needs were "expanding space," "increasing storage space," and "more cooking activities." For the veranda/balcony, respondents said "creating a plant gardening space," "expanding space," and "installing home training areas and equipment" were necessary. Female respondents indicated that most spaces needed changes, whereas males responded that changes were more necessary for the veranda/balcony and shared bathrooms.

Compared to before the COVID-19 outbreak, the increased daily activities were "frequency of cooking at home" (75.6%), "time spent in residential spaces" (75.2%), and "frequency of ordering food delivery" (67.1%). The decreased activities were "frequency of gatherings and company dinners" (95.6%), "frequency of visiting multi-use facilities" (94.8%), and "frequency of visiting outdoor parks" (62.3%).

The preferred housing differentiation themes were "smart homes" (28.6%), "landscape-specialized homes" (21.2%), "health homes" (17.8%), "luxury interior homes" (10.6%), "community-specialized homes" (10.2%), "eco-friendly energy-saving homes" (6.7%), and "exterior design differentiated homes" (4.9%).

In particular, "smart homes" increased by 6.5 percentage points to 28.6% this year compared to 22.1% last year. On the other hand, "community-specialized homes" decreased by 10.1 percentage points to 10.2% this year from 20.3% last year.

When asked which is more important when choosing a home between "upgraded facilities, services, and excellent quality" and "affordable sale price," 50.1% responded "facilities, services, and quality are important," 7.0% said "affordable sale price is important," and 42.9% said "both are similar." The response "affordable sale price is important" decreased by 12.3 percentage points from 19.3% last year, while "facilities, services, and quality are important" increased by 14.8 percentage points from 35.3% last year.

Regarding the "policy to expand rental housing for youth," 79.6% agreed, 11.0% were neutral, and 9.4% opposed. For the "expansion and implementation of the private land sale price ceiling system," 65.4% agreed, 31.7% were neutral, and 2.9% opposed. For the "apartment post-sale system," 63.5% agreed, 25.7% were neutral, and 10.8% opposed.

A representative of the joint research team said, "Due to real estate policies and the impact of COVID-19, this year showed the most significant change in space demand among recent years. As people spend more time at home, demands for indoor space changes are increasing, and the era of qualitative demand for residential spaces is rapidly approaching. It is a time when new space product development and supply that meet consumer demands are more necessary than ever."

Meanwhile, Fides Development has been conducting the "Residential Space Consumer Awareness Survey" since 2005 to understand the current status and perceptions related to consumer residential life and to develop new housing products accordingly.

This "2020 Residential Space Consumer Awareness Survey," jointly conducted by Fides Development, Daewoo Construction, Aegis Asset Management, Korea Asset Trust, and Haean Architecture, was carried out targeting 1,000 people aged 35 to 69 in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi areas. The sampling method was stratified random sampling by region, the data collection tools were structured questionnaires and visual cards, and the survey method was one-on-one individual interviews conducted from October to November 2020. The sampling error is ±3.1% (95% confidence level).

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