Record Low for October Licensed Real Estate Agent Openings

837 New Openings Nationwide, Decreased Further from 906 in August
'Openings < Closures & Suspensions' in All Cities and Provinces Except Sejong

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Noh Kyung-jo] Amid the real estate transaction freeze, the number of newly registered licensed real estate agents nationwide hit a record monthly low. Additionally, except for Sejong, all other cities and provinces across the country recorded more closures and temporary suspensions combined than new openings.

According to the Korea Association of Licensed Real Estate Agents on the 23rd, there were 837 new real estate agent registrations nationwide in October, a 9.6% decrease from the previous month (918 registrations). This is the lowest monthly figure this year and the smallest since related statistics began being compiled. Previously, August registrations numbered 906, the lowest since September 2019 (994 registrations).

On the other hand, last month saw a total of 1,080 closures and temporary suspensions (988 closures and 92 suspensions), the highest in the second half of this year. Closures have outpaced new openings since August, and the gap is gradually widening. Temporary suspensions also reached a monthly high this year.

By region, among the 17 cities and provinces nationwide, all except Sejong recorded more closures and suspensions combined than new openings. In southern Gyeonggi Province, new openings last month were 188, slightly up from 180 the previous month and higher than closures (185), but with 15 temporary suspensions recorded, this introduced a variable. Busan, Incheon, and Gwangju showed similar situations.

In Sejong, there were 11 new real estate agent registrations, with 7 closures and 2 temporary suspensions. Regarding the recent reversal after four consecutive months where new openings were fewer than closures and suspensions, the association stated, "It appears that the market has sufficiently adjusted during that period."

Due to interest rate hikes and the real estate market downturn, buyer sentiment has frozen. According to the Korea Real Estate Board, last week the apartment sales supply-demand index in Seoul dropped to 69.2 from 70.7 the previous week, breaking below the 70 mark. This is the lowest figure in 10 years and 3 months since the first week of August 2012, when it recorded 67.5. The sales supply-demand index is based on 100; a figure below 100 indicates that there are more sellers than buyers.

The nationwide apartment sales supply-demand index also fell to 76.9 from 78.5 the previous week, remaining below 80 for two consecutive weeks. It has been on a downward trend since falling below 100 in the first week of December last year.

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