Out-of-town Buyers Who Purchased Homes in Seoul Last Year Hit 'All-Time High'

Safe Investment and O Se-hoon Redevelopment Expectations

The proportion of non-residents purchasing housing in Seoul reached an all-time high last year. Despite a decline in Seoul housing sales volume since the second half of last year due to fatigue from soaring house prices, loan regulations, and interest rate hikes, this indicates that the 'Seoul concentration' phenomenon remains strong.

According to a review by real estate information provider Economy Man Lab of housing sales volume by buyer residence from the Korea Real Estate Board, out of 126,834 housing transactions in Seoul last year, 34,373 were purchased by non-residents, accounting for 27.1%. This is the highest proportion since the Korea Real Estate Board began compiling related statistics in 2006.

The district with the highest proportion of non-resident home purchases was Gangseo-gu. Of the 9,583 housing transactions in Gangseo-gu last year, 3,214 were bought by residents from other regions, making the non-resident purchase ratio 33.5%, ranking first among Seoul’s 25 autonomous districts. This was followed by Dobong-gu at 32.8%, Yangcheon-gu at 32.4%, Guro-gu at 32.1%, Yongsan-gu at 31.8%, and Gwanak-gu at 31.0%.

The rise in the proportion of non-residents purchasing homes in Seoul is interpreted as reflecting the shortage of housing supply in Seoul and the expectation of rising house prices due to redevelopment initiatives led by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. There is also an interpretation that a learning effect has emerged, whereby Seoul housing prices are seen as relatively safe even during market downturns.

According to KB Real Estate’s housing price trends, the average sale price of housing in Seoul rose from 797.41 million KRW in January last year to 909.79 million KRW in January this year, an increase of 112.38 million KRW over one year. Additionally, the average sale price of the top 20% of apartments in the Seoul metropolitan area (Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon) reached 1.59832 billion KRW last month, whereas the average sale price of the top 20% of apartments in other regions excluding metropolitan cities was only 488.19 million KRW. This is comparable to the average sale price of the bottom 40% (second quintile) in the metropolitan area, which is 492.36 million KRW.

Hwang Han-sol, a research analyst at Economy Man Lab, said, "As the perception of buying one solid property takes hold, demand is concentrating from other regions to Seoul," adding, "Although the housing price trend is currently cooling, it is highly likely that non-residents will continue purchasing homes in Seoul."

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