[Report] "Quick-sale properties are being sold, raising asking prices"... Are Nowon Yeongkkeul buyers catching a break?

Small Used Apartments in Nowon Sanggye and Junggye Sold Out Quickly
Apartment Prices Turn Up After 51 Weeks...The Only Rise in Gangbuk
Sanggye Jugong Complex 7, 41㎡ Restores 500 Million KRW Level

"Since the beginning of this year, there have been steady purchase inquiries mainly for small established apartments, and transactions have been active, especially for urgent sales. In Nowon, the established apartments in Sanggye-dong and Junggye-dong are subject to reconstruction and redevelopment projects, and there are quite a few cheap properties priced at levels from two years ago, which seems to be attracting buying demand." (Representative of A Real Estate Agency in Sanggye-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul)

A view of Sanggye Jugong Complex 7 apartment in Sanggye-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul, visited on the morning of the 3rd.
[Photo by Kwak Minjae]

On the morning of the 3rd, I visited Sanggye Jugong Complex 7 apartment in Sanggye-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul. The brokerage offices in this complex were busy with phone inquiries from customers looking for urgent sales. The representative of a local A real estate agency said, "Until the end of last year and early this year, the market was so frozen that there was barely one transaction per month, but recently, transactions have become quite active, centered on urgent sales," adding, "Both transaction volume and prices are gradually rising."

The apartment market in Nowon-gu, Seoul, which attracted 'Yeongkkeuljok' (those who borrow to the maximum) and investors during the real estate boom, has rebounded after 1 year and 4 months. According to the Korea Real Estate Board, while the apartment sale prices in Seoul fell by 0.07% in the last week of last month, the sale prices in Nowon-gu rose by 0.04%. This is the first time in 51 weeks since May 2022 that apartment prices in Nowon-gu have turned upward. Among the 14 districts in Gangbuk, Nowon-gu was the only one where apartment sale prices increased.

This is analyzed to be because the Bank of Korea froze the base interest rate twice in a row, creating the perception that the interest rate hike cycle has peaked, which revived low-price buying demand in Nowon where prices had sharply dropped in a short period. The representative of B Real Estate near Sanggye Jugong Complex 7 said, "Sanggye-dong has good access to Line 7 and Line 4 Nowon Station, and there are many academies and large hospitals nearby, so it has attracted a lot of attention," adding, "Especially, urgent sales of small-sized units priced between 400 million and 600 million KRW have dropped to prices from two years ago, and since most complexes are priced below 900 million KRW, buyers can use the government's special Bogeumjari Loan (with an annual interest rate in the 4% range), which is facilitating active transactions."

Expectations for reconstruction are also one of the reasons why buying demand is concentrated in Sanggye-dong and Junggye-dong. Currently, there are 55 complexes with over 30 years of age and about 74,000 households in Nowon-gu, the largest number among Seoul's autonomous districts. Recently, the government has eased regulations related to reconstruction such as safety inspections, and Nowon-gu Office and Seoul City are actively promoting reconstruction, raising expectations that the projects will accelerate. The Korea Real Estate Board analyzed that "in Nowon, urgent sales of established apartments mainly in Junggye and Sanggye-dong have been exhausted, leading to a price rebound."

As urgent sales are exhausted, sellers' asking prices are also gradually rising. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Real Transaction Price Disclosure System, the 41㎡ exclusive area unit in Sanggye Jugong Complex 7, which had recorded up to 700 million KRW, dropped to 440 million KRW this year but has recovered to around 500 million KRW due to continuous rising transactions. The 44㎡ exclusive area unit in Junggye Jugong Complex 6 has been sold consecutively at 398 million KRW on the 1st, 415 million KRW on the 5th, and 450 million KRW on the 15th of April, continuing the upward trend.

However, experts say it is necessary to observe further whether this price rise in Nowon-gu will spread to other autonomous districts in Gangbuk. Park Hapsu, an adjunct professor at Konkuk University Graduate School of Real Estate, said, "The rise in Nowon-gu was decisively driven by urgent sales due to price adjustments and expectations for future value such as government easing of reconstruction inspections, leading to transactions mainly in established apartments," adding, "However, with ongoing economic uncertainties such as recession and high interest rates, it is unlikely that the upward trend in Nowon will lead to a chasing buying spree spreading to the Gangbuk area."

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