Seoul Apartment Buying Sentiment Declines for 4 Consecutive Weeks... Gangnam Area Also Slows Down

View of apartments from Lotte World Tower Seoul Sky in Songpa-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Tae-min] Seoul apartment buying sentiment has been sluggish for four consecutive weeks. In particular, the buying momentum in the Gangnam area, which had been on the rise, is also weakening.

According to the Korea Real Estate Board on the 4th, the Seoul apartment sales supply-demand index for the first week of June (as of the 30th of last month) was 90.2, down 0.4 points from last week (90.6). This marks a decline for four consecutive weeks following a 0.2-point drop last week.

The Seoul apartment sales supply-demand index had risen for seven consecutive weeks after the presidential election due to expectations of deregulation such as reconstruction tax reforms by the new government, but recently showed a mixed pattern of declines and rises. Just a month ago, it surged by 0.6 points showing signs of recovery, but it has continuously declined over the past four weeks. Generally, the lower the sales supply-demand index is below the baseline (100), the more sellers there are in the market compared to buyers.

By region, the Dongnam area (Gangnam 4 districts), which was the only area in Seoul showing an upward trend last week, experienced the largest drop. This week, the Dongnam area fell 1.4 points to 95.1 from last week's 96.5. The Seonam area (including Yangcheon and Yeongdeungpo districts) also slightly declined from 92.3 to 91.9. On the other hand, the Dosim area (including Yongsan and Jongno districts), where the presidential office relocated, slightly rose from 90.8 to 91.1 last week.

Looking at the entire metropolitan area, the index fell 0.1 points to 91.6 from last week. Gyeonggi Province, which had seen its upward trend stall last week (92.1→92.2), showed a slight rebound. Incheon saw a decrease in buying momentum from 92.8 last week to 92.7 this week.

The Seoul apartment jeonse supply-demand index dropped to 94.9 this week from 94.8 last week. The metropolitan area recorded 95.4, and the provinces 98.1, both down 0.1 points from last week.

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