The 2030 Buying Frenzy Spreads to Villas... "Prices Rose by 100 Million Won in One Year"

Average Sale Price of Seoul Row Houses in July 332.2 Million KRW... Up 11% from a Year Ago
Demand Concentrated Among 2030 with Limited Funds and Low Subscription Possibility

On the 11th, the view of a villa village from a building in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, where villa transaction volumes are increasing. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

"In just one year, house prices have risen by more than 100 million KRW. And this is not about apartments, but villas." (A representative from a real estate agency in Yongsan-gu, Seoul)

As the buying frenzy for apartments shifts to non-apartment properties, the average sale price of row houses in Seoul has surged by more than 11% in one year. Especially, demand from the 2030 generation, who have slim chances of winning housing lotteries and limited financial resources, has poured in, leading to a trend where newly built villas near subway stations have increased by over 100 million KRW within a few months.

According to the KB Real Estate Monthly Housing Price Trend on the 11th, the average sale price of row houses in Seoul in July was 332.2 million KRW. Compared to 298.81 million KRW in July last year, this is an 11.17% (33.39 million KRW) increase. Row houses, commonly called villas, had not attracted much attention in the real estate market until a few years ago. The average price increase rate for the previous year (July 2019 to July 2020) was only 2.74%.

The row house market, once overlooked, was shaken by the panic buying of the 2030 generation. According to the real estate platform Dabang, one out of every four non-apartment units such as multi-family, multi-unit, and row houses traded in Seoul during the first half of the year was purchased by someone in their 30s or younger. This is a 5.1 percentage point increase compared to 19.5% in the first half of last year. As apartment purchase and rental prices continued to soar, it is analyzed that the financially constrained 2030 generation bought properties reluctantly, as a last resort.

In fact, in June, a 76㎡ (exclusive area) villa near Hapjeong Station on subway lines 2 and 6 in Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, was traded for 593 million KRW. This price is 93 million KRW higher than the actual transaction price of 500 million KRW nine months earlier. In Cheongpa-dong, Yongsan-gu, a 30㎡ villa near Sookmyung Women's University Station on subway line 4 was sold for 763 million KRW last month. This is a market price increase of 163 million KRW compared to 600 million KRW in September last year.

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