Dongducheon Soared with Balloon Effect, Transactions Freeze and Listings Pile Up

Only 63 Transactions Since Designation as Regulated Area
"Buy Inquiries Stopped"... Apartment Listings Increased by 146 in 6 Weeks
Demand Concentrates in Nearby Non-Regulated Areas Icheon and Yeoju... 'Regulation Balloon Effect'

Seoul apartment complex view (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Tae-min] An unusual trend is being detected in the housing market of Dongducheon-si, Gyeonggi Province, where housing prices had surged due to the balloon effect of regulated areas and the positive impact of the metropolitan area express railroad (GTX). Since being designated as a regulated area at the end of August, demand has sharply declined, leading to an accumulation of listings.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's actual transaction price disclosure system, from August 28, when the designation of some neighborhoods in Dongducheon-si as regulated areas took effect, there were only 63 apartment sales transactions in the area over 45 days. This contrasts sharply with the average monthly transaction volume of 275 before the designation earlier this year.

Listings have also increased since the designation. According to the Apartment Actual Transaction Price app (Asil), as of the 13th, there were 482 apartment listings in Dongducheon-si. This is a 146 listing (43.4%) increase compared to 336 listings on the day of designation, August 27. A representative from real estate agency A in Jihaeng-dong, Dongducheon, said, "It was very popular because it was a rare non-regulated area in Gyeonggi Province, but after becoming a regulated area, purchase inquiries have completely stopped."

As buying demand shrinks, the rate of price increase is also slowing. According to KB Live Real Estate time series data, the apartment price increase rate in Dongducheon-si was 1.50% in the fourth week of August, the highest ever, but dropped by 0.78 percentage points to 0.82% in the fourth week of September, one month later.

Earlier, on August 27, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held a Residential Policy Deliberation Committee meeting and designated six areas?Jihaeng-dong, Songnae-dong, Bosan-dong, Dongducheon-dong, Saengyeon-dong, and Sangpae-dong?as regulated areas. These areas are near Jihaeng Station on Seoul Metropolitan Subway Line 1 and contain most of the apartments in Dongducheon. They are representative areas where housing prices sharply rose this year due to the GTX-C line development.

However, the balloon effect caused by the expansion of regulated areas remains evident. After Dongducheon and others were designated as regulated areas, as of the 13th, apartment transactions in Icheon-si, Gyeonggi Province, totaled 428, and in Yeoju, 230. Currently, the non-regulated areas within the metropolitan area include six locations: Icheon-si, Yeoju-si, Pocheon-si, Yangpyeong-gun, Yeoncheon-gun, and Gapyeong-gun.

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