Despite the Move-in Cliff... Increasing Apartment Listings in the Seoul Metropolitan Area

Apartment complexes viewed from the observatory of 63 Building in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul on the 7th

Despite concerns over supply disruptions in the 3rd New Towns due to speculation by employees of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) and supply-demand instability caused by a sharp decline in new apartment move-in volumes, the number of apartment listings in the metropolitan area continues to steadily increase.

According to Apartment Real Transaction Price (Asil), a real estate big data company, as of the 15th, the total number of apartment listings (including sales and monthly rent) in the metropolitan area was recorded at 191,193. This is the first time in 198 days since August 30 of last year that the total number of apartment listings in the metropolitan area has exceeded 190,000.

In particular, as the demand for move-ins related to the new semester winds down, listings in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province are showing a sharp increase. In Seoul, there were 77,096 listings on the 1st of this month, which rose by 8.1% to 83,347 listings on the 15th. Similarly, in Gyeonggi Province, listings increased by 8.6% from 99,305 to 107,846 during the same period.

This appears to reflect the situation where buyers’ choices have become extremely limited due to last year’s apartment price surge, whether for sales or jeonse (long-term deposit lease). Since the announcement of the “supply bomb” 2.4 measures, a clear wait-and-see attitude has emerged among buyers.

However, whether the increase in listings will continue remains uncertain. In the sales market, there are concerns that if the LH scandal prolongs, the wait-and-see stance may end and “panic buying” could intensify again. Land compensation work related to the new towns is immediately facing difficulties. Some civic groups even argue that the 3rd New Towns should be completely canceled. The waiting demand that had been anticipating the preliminary subscription in July could suddenly shift to sales demand.

The jeonse market is also expected to face a move-in cliff after the second quarter, which could simultaneously lead to a resolution of listing backlogs and a stimulation of jeonse prices. According to Real Estate 114, the number of apartment move-ins in Seoul, which was 11,140 units in the first quarter of this year, will sharply decrease to 5,659 units in the second quarter. It will somewhat increase to 7,938 units in the third quarter but then drop again to 44,919 units in the fourth quarter.

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