Building Transaction Market Enters 'Breather' Phase... Transaction Volume Down 1.6% from Previous Month

Earlier this year, the volume of commercial and office building transactions in Seoul showed an upward trend for two consecutive months, but in April, it slightly declined again, indicating a pause. However, some key areas saw increases in both transaction volume and transaction value, drawing attention to the future direction of the market.

Office-dense area near Gwanghwamun.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Real Estate Planet, a big data and AI-based commercial real estate specialist company, announced on the 17th that an analysis of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's actual transaction data (as of the 1st) showed that the number of commercial and office building sales in Seoul in April totaled 122 cases, a decrease of about 1.6% compared to the previous month (124 cases). The transaction volume for commercial and office buildings hit a record low of 52 cases in January, then rebounded from February (93 cases), showing a clear increase for two consecutive months, but in April, it slightly declined again, indicating a pause.

The transaction value continued its upward trend. In April, the total transaction value of commercial and office buildings in Seoul was 1.5221 trillion KRW, a 32.3% increase compared to the previous month. Unlike the transaction volume, the increase in transaction value means that larger transactions took place. However, compared to the same month last year, the transaction volume decreased by 62.2% and the transaction value by 41.4%, suggesting that it will take time for the market to recover to previous levels.

Looking at transactions by major districts in Seoul in April, the transaction volume in Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu increased by 20.8% to 29 cases, and the transaction value (487.7 billion KRW) also rose by 57.1%. Jongno-gu and Jung-gu also saw a 47.1% increase in transaction volume (25 cases), while large transactions such as the Donghwa Building and Donghwa Parking Building (approximately 224.2 billion KRW) in Seosomun-dong, Jung-gu, and the New International Hotel (63.5 billion KRW) in Taepyeongno 1-ga, Jung-gu, led to a sharp 488.5% increase in transaction value (406.8 billion KRW) compared to the previous month.

In other areas, both transaction volume and transaction value declined. By autonomous district, Gangnam recorded 20 transactions, ranking first in transaction volume for the second consecutive month, followed by Jongno-gu (16 cases), Jung-gu and Seocho-gu (9 cases each), and Seongdong-gu, Dongdaemun-gu, and Seodaemun-gu (7 cases each), where transactions were active.

Meanwhile, in January, buildings priced under 5 billion KRW accounted for 76.5% of all transactions, but this proportion decreased to 50.8% in April. Conversely, the number of transactions for buildings priced over 30 billion KRW in April was 11, an increase of 4 compared to the previous month.

Considering that only 12 out of 268 commercial and office building transactions in Seoul from January to March were over 30 billion KRW, Real Estate Planet explained that the number of high-value transactions surged significantly.

Jung Soo-min, CEO of Real Estate Planet, said, "The commercial and office building transactions, which had been increasing since February, maintained a similar level in April, showing signs of bottoming out. It is still too early to view the market positively, but since there are signs of recovery in transactions, we recommend closely monitoring the market situation and approaching it cautiously."

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