Due to Deregulation Hopes... 'Top 50' Leading Apartment Stocks Rise for Two Consecutive Months

View of apartments across Seoul from Namsan. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Tae-min] The nationwide ‘blue-chip’ apartment price increase has grown for two consecutive months. As the new government shows signs of easing reconstruction regulations, listings in reconstruction complexes are disappearing, and record-high transactions are occurring frequently. Additionally, with the growing burden of property taxes on multi-homeowners, the preference for owning a single, well-located property is intensifying, especially in the Gangnam area.

According to KB Real Estate on the 25th, this month’s ‘KB Leading Apartment 50 Index’ rose 0.39% to 100.74 compared to the previous month. This increase is 0.13 percentage points higher than last month’s rise of 0.26%. The KB Leading Apartment Index selects the top 50 apartment complexes nationwide by market capitalization and reflects the rate of change in market capitalization. It is highly sensitive to price fluctuations and is mainly used as a leading indicator to forecast the housing market.

The index maintained an average monthly increase of around 1% from June to November last year but dropped to the 0% range starting in December when the sales market began to freeze. In particular, it sharply declined to 0.09% in February, marking the lowest level in 21 months, but rebounded from last month amid growing expectations for reconstruction regulation easing. The Leading 50 Index includes many high-priced reconstruction complexes in Seoul such as Eunma, Apgujeong Hyundai, and Jamsil Jugong.

Moreover, as the property tax burden on multi-homeowners increases annually, the preference for a relatively less burdensome ‘smart single property’ is rising again. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s real transaction disclosure system on the same day, a 155㎡ (exclusive area) unit in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Shinhyundai 12th Complex, changed hands on the 15th for 5.9 billion KRW, 400 million KRW higher than the previous transaction. Last month, a 129.9㎡ unit in Acro River Park, Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, was sold for 6.3 billion KRW, 1.2 billion KRW higher than the previous record price of 5.1 billion KRW for that size.

Song Seung-hyun, CEO of Urban and Economy, said, “Recently, with the uncertainty of the presidential election resolved and growing expectations for reconstruction regulation easing, the real estate market is showing signs of revitalization. As the property tax burden continues to increase annually, the movement toward owning a smart single property, especially in the Gangnam area, may strengthen further.”

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