Seoul Housing Prices Rise to Highest in One Year... Capital Region's Increase Hits Annual Peak

Korea Real Estate Board July Nationwide Housing Price Trend Survey
Government's 'Housing Price Peak' Warning Ineffective... Nationwide Bull Market
Steeper Increase Compared to Last Year... Jeonse Also Up

View of apartments in the Gangnam area of Seoul from Daemosan Mountain, Seoul [Image source=Yonhap News]

The housing price increase in the Seoul metropolitan area has accelerated, with last month's price growth rate reaching the highest level this year. Housing prices in Seoul also saw an increased rise for the third consecutive month. The upward trend in major provincial cities such as Daejeon, Ulsan, and Gwangju has also sped up. Compared to the same period last year when housing prices surged significantly, the rate of increase is very steep. Although the government has issued various measures such as pre-sale subscriptions and expanding public housing, there are criticisms that these efforts are ineffective.

According to the nationwide housing price trend report for July released by the Korea Real Estate Board on the 17th, the price increases for sales, jeonse (long-term lease), and monthly rent all expanded in most cities nationwide, including Seoul and other metropolitan areas. In the Seoul metropolitan area, prices rose by 1.17% last month, matching the highest monthly increase this year recorded in February (1.17%). After falling to 0.86% in May due to the government's repeated warnings about the housing price peak, the metropolitan area has seen the rate of increase grow again for two consecutive months.

The expectation of eased reconstruction regulations and the development of the Metropolitan Area Express Train (GTX) have significantly expanded the price increase rates in Seoul (0.49→0.60%) and Gyeonggi-do (1.32→1.52%), where housing prices have soared this year. Seoul recorded its highest growth rate in a year since July last year (0.71%). Among Seoul's 25 districts, Nowon-gu showed the highest increase rate at 1.32%.

The upward trends in Busan (0.85%), Daejeon (0.82%), and Gwangju (0.73%) are also considerable. Although the government has proposed supply expansion plans to stabilize housing prices, analyses suggest that the upward trend has actually accelerated compared to last year. In fact, the cumulative increase in the metropolitan area was 3.96% until July last year, but this year it has nearly doubled to 7.63%. For the five major metropolitan cities, the increase grew more than threefold from 2.02% last year to 6.28% this year. In provincial areas such as Gangwon-do, Chungbuk, Chungnam, and Jeju, where buying demand had been weak, the rate of increase is even greater.

The problem is that prices for jeonse and monthly rent are also rising sharply, not just sales prices. Nationwide, the jeonse price increase rate rose from 0.45% in June to 0.59% last month, while the monthly rent increase rate jumped from 0.14% to 0.19% during the same period. A Korea Real Estate Board official explained, "In Seoul, the shortage of jeonse listings continues due to the vacation period and relocation demand from redevelopment projects," adding, "Gyeonggi-do's Siheung and Anyang, as well as Incheon and Ulsan, are also experiencing upward trends."

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