Seoul Apartment Market Shows 'Sell > Buy' for 15 Consecutive Weeks... Second Weakest Nationwide After Daegu

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] In the Seoul apartment market, the number of buyers has been decreasing for 15 consecutive weeks, while the number of sellers is gradually increasing. Due to loan regulations and interest rate hikes, transaction volumes have sharply declined and listings have accumulated, worsening the 'supply-demand imbalance.'

According to the Korea Real Estate Board on the 25th, this week's Seoul apartment sales supply-demand index was 87.3, down 0.5 points from last week (87.8). This is the lowest level in 2 years and 7 months since the survey on July 22, 2019 (87.2).

The Seoul apartment sales supply-demand index has been below the baseline (100) for 15 consecutive weeks since November 15 last year (99.6). This is the first time since 2019, when the current government’s strong real estate tax and loan regulations led to a downward stabilization of housing prices, that the index has remained below the baseline for more than 15 weeks.

In particular, Seoul's sales supply-demand index is the second lowest nationwide. Daegu, where oversupply and unsold units are rampant, showed the lowest figure nationwide at 79.9.

By region, the northwest area, including Eunpyeong, Seodaemun, and Mapo districts, recorded the lowest figure, dropping 3.4 points from 87.9 last week to 84.5 this week. The downtown area, including Yongsan, Jongno, and Jung districts, fell from 86.1 last week to 85.1 this week, and the southwest area, including Yangcheon, Gangseo, Guro, Yeongdeungpo, Dongjak, and Gwanak districts, decreased from 90.6 to 90.1. The southeast area, which includes the Gangnam 4 districts, dropped from 86.6 last week to 85.5 this week. The northeast area (Seongdong, Gwangjin, Nowon, Dobong, Gangbuk districts, etc.) was the only region to show a slight increase, recording 87.4 this week compared to 86.5 last week, but it still remained below 90.

In the weekly trend report released the day before, the Seoul apartment sales price increase rate was -0.02%, maintaining the same decline as last week. Apartment prices in Gyeonggi (-0.03%) and Incheon (-0.02%) saw their decline rates increase by 0.01 percentage points compared to last week. Accordingly, Gyeonggi’s sales supply-demand index remained below the baseline for 13 consecutive weeks at 90.9, and Incheon for 10 consecutive weeks at 93.6, indicating a weakened buying trend.

The jeonse (long-term lease) market is similar. This week, Seoul’s apartment jeonse supply-demand index recorded 89.7, the lowest level in 2 years and 6 months since August 12, 2019 (89.7).

Meanwhile, according to the Seoul Real Estate Information Plaza, the number of apartment sales transactions in Seoul last December (based on reported cases) was 1,124, marking a record low and continuing at a sluggish level. Although there are still remaining days for actual transaction reports, January recorded 1,058 cases and February only 256 cases.

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