Slight Decline in Apartment Buying Sentiment Due to 'Surge Fatigue'... Upward Trend Continues

Apartment buildings in the Seodaemun-gu and Mapo-gu areas of Seoul. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Tae-min] Nationwide apartment buying sentiment has slightly decreased. Despite recent government warnings about peak housing prices, apartment prices continue to rise, suggesting fatigue from the rapid price surge.

According to the Korea Real Estate Board on the 29th, as of the 23rd, the nationwide apartment sales demand-supply index was 107.3, down 0.9 points from last week’s 108.2. The sales demand-supply index is calculated by analyzing surveys from member real estate agencies of the Korea Real Estate Board and the number of online listings, quantifying the balance between demand and supply. The closer to 0, the more supply exceeds demand. Conversely, the closer to 200, the more demand exceeds supply. A value above 100 indicates strong buying sentiment.

By region, the Seoul metropolitan area fell 1.6 points from 112.4 to 110.8, showing somewhat weaker buying sentiment. Seoul dropped 1.7 points to 107.3, while Gyeonggi (114.5→113.1) and Incheon (114.5→113.6) each declined by more than 1.5 points.

In Seoul, the Northeast area recorded the highest at 108.2. Although the Northeast area fell 1.3 points from last week, it has maintained the highest buying sentiment in Seoul for six consecutive weeks. The Northeast area, including the so-called 'Nodogang' (Nowon, Dobong, Gangbuk districts), which has relatively affordable apartments, is seeing a surge in prices driven by buying demand focused on reconstruction and transportation benefits. The apartment price increase rate in Nowon-gu has been the highest in Seoul for 20 consecutive weeks.

The Southwest area dropped 1.6 points from 106.8 to 105.2, and the Northwest (106.8→104.3), Southeast (105.3→103.2), and Central areas (105.5→103.9) all fell between 1.3 and 2.5 points compared to the previous week. Typically, when buying sentiment weakens, apartment price increases also slow, but Seoul apartment prices rose from 0.21% last week to 0.22% this week, marking the highest increase in 2 years and 11 months since the third week of September 2018 (0.26%).

The Korea Real Estate Board analyzed, “Amid ongoing shortages of listings, apartment prices rose mainly in large to medium-sized complexes near land transaction permission zones such as Songpa-gu and major reconstruction complexes in the Gangbuk area.”

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