Undervalued 'Northern Seoul Metropolitan Area' Housing Prices Catching Up... Yangju and Dongducheon Soar

Concentrated Buying in Northern Gyeonggi and Seoul Metropolitan Area
Yangju Rises 1.44%, Highest Increase Rate
Undervalued Perception Due to GTX-C Transportation Benefit
Dongducheon, Negative Last Year, Also Shows Upward Trend

Aerial view of Yangju New Town area (Photo by LH)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] Signs of overheating have appeared in the real estate market of northern metropolitan areas such as Yangju, Dongducheon, Uijeongbu, and Goyang since the beginning of the new year. These areas had been left out during the housing price rise in Seoul and southern Gyeonggi Province, but with transportation benefits such as the metropolitan wide express railroad (GTX)-C line becoming visible and the perception that these areas had been undervalued compared to others spreading, it is analyzed that the 'price matching' of housing prices is now in full swing.

14 Million KRW Increase in Two Months... Yangju’s Late 'Bull Market'

According to the Korea Real Estate Board and industry sources on the 8th, the ongoing housing price rise in the metropolitan area is recently spreading to the northern Gyeonggi region. Apartment prices in Yangju rose by 1.44% as of the 4th of this month compared to the previous week, showing the highest increase among all cities, counties, and districts nationwide. This is the largest increase in about eight years since statistics began in May 2012. Yangju’s housing prices fluctuated in the negative range even as the nationwide real estate market heated up last year.

Major apartment transaction prices in Okjeong New Town, Yangju, have been repeatedly setting new record highs since the end of last year. For example, the e-Pyeonhansesang Okjeong Urban Central 84.95㎡ unit was traded at 590 million KRW on December 25 last year, marking an all-time high. Considering that the same size unit was traded at 447 million KRW in October last year, this represents a surge of over 30% in just two months. Nearby, the e-Pyeonhansesang Okjeong The First 84.98㎡ also surpassed 500 million KRW at the end of last year, and its current asking price has soared to between 600 million and 650 million KRW.

According to local real estate agents in Yangju, demand for low-priced apartments around 100 million KRW is also increasing. This is because if the official appraisal price is below 100 million KRW, multi-homeowners can avoid the acquisition tax surcharge. The government strengthened the acquisition tax rate for multi-homeowners from the previous 1-3% to up to 12% through the July 10th measures last year, but if the official appraisal price is below 100 million KRW, it is excluded from the surcharge and a 1.1% acquisition tax rate applies.

Expectations for improvements in the metropolitan transportation network are also stimulating housing prices. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced the designation of the GTX C line as a private investment project and the basic facility plan (RFP) in December last year. Once this line opens, it will take 27 minutes to travel from Deokjeong in Yangju to Samsung Station in Seoul, and 25 minutes to Cheongnyangni Station. A representative of A Real Estate Agency in Goam-dong, Yangju, said, "Because expectations for transportation improvements are high, prices have risen a lot recently," adding, "There are more people looking for low-priced complexes."

Rising Trend Spreads to Dongducheon, Which Had Negative Cumulative Increase Last Year

The situation is similar in Uijeongbu and Dongducheon, adjacent to Yangju. In Dongducheon, the apartment price increase rate this week was 0.81%, nine times steeper than the previous week’s 0.09%. This is a complete turnaround from the -1.08% recorded over the entire last year based on weekly cumulative change rates. Uijeongbu also recorded a 0.66% increase this week, nearly doubling from 0.35% the previous week.

An official from the Korea Real Estate Board explained, "In Dongducheon, the rise was significant in mid-to-low priced complexes with transportation benefits such as the opening of the Eunhyeon-Hapae-Songnae connecting road and the expansion of Eosu Road." Considering that housing prices in the northwest region including Paju and Goyang had already risen sharply, it means that the housing price increase trend has effectively expanded across the entire metropolitan area.

An industry insider said, "As local areas are designated as regulated zones, it is a natural step for abundant liquidity in the market to refocus on the metropolitan area," adding, "Especially, buying demand is rapidly moving to undervalued areas."

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