Gangnam and Gangbuk Sales Prices Decline Widens... Seocho-gu Also Shows Slight Weakness

Week-over-Week Change in Sales Index
Gangbuk -0.06%, Gangnam -0.03%
Due to Buyer Caution
Slight Weakness in Seocho with Sharp Decline in Transactions in June and July

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Seoyul] As the wait-and-see attitude of apartment buyers in the Seoul area has prolonged, the decline in apartment sale prices has widened across both Gangnam and Gangbuk areas. Dobong-gu and Songpa-gu, which experienced the largest price drops in each region, saw the number of sales transactions last month fall to about one-seventh compared to the same month last year.

According to KB Real Estate's weekly time series statistics on the 22nd, the week-over-week apartment sale price change rates for the third week of August in Seoul's Gangbuk and Gangnam areas were -0.06% and -0.03%, respectively, indicating an expanded decline. The combined sale price change rate for Seoul was -0.04%, showing the same figure as the previous week.

The decline in sale prices in these two areas has been expanding for two consecutive weeks. The sale price change rate in Gangbuk was -0.02% in the first week of August and -0.05% last week, while Gangnam showed -0.01% and -0.02% during the same periods. Notably, Gangnam had maintained a price increase trend even in June when Gangbuk shifted to a decrease or stabilization, but it started to decline from the third week of July (-0.02%).

In Gangbuk, prices fell mainly in Dobong-gu and Nowon-gu. Dobong-gu recorded a sale price change rate of -0.38% last week, a larger decline than the previous week (-0.18%), while Nowon-gu remained steady at -0.06%. In Gangnam, significant decreases were seen in Songpa-gu (-0.08%), Dongjak-gu (-0.05%), and Gangnam-gu (-0.03%).

In both regions, prices are falling as transactions are not occurring due to buyers' cautious stance. Last week, Seoul's buyer dominance index was 31.5, slightly up from 28.6 the previous week, but far below the 112.2 recorded in the third week of August last year. The buyer dominance index ranges from 0 to 200, with values above 100 indicating more buyers and below 100 indicating more sellers.

In fact, the number of apartment sales transactions this year in Dobong-gu and Songpa-gu, which had the largest price decreases, sharply declined compared to last year. According to the Seoul Real Estate Information Plaza, Dobong-gu recorded 27 transactions in June and 29 in July this year. This is about one-seventh of the 195 transactions in June and 208 in July last year. Considering that the data is based on contract dates, the number of transactions last month may vary, but even accounting for this, the figures remain low. Songpa-gu also recorded lower transaction numbers with 51 in June and 35 in July compared to 160 in June and 254 in July last year.

Meanwhile, Seocho-gu (0.00%) is the only district among the Gangnam 3 districts (Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa) where sale prices did not decline, but it has shown a precarious slight decrease since July. Despite the sales transaction cliff this year, Seocho-gu showed relatively high transaction volumes with 128 and 124 transactions in March and April, respectively, compared to other districts, but the volume sharply dropped to 54 in June and 35 in July recently.

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