"Smart One House Still Strong" Proportion of Seoul Apartments Over 1 Billion Won Transactions Hits Record High from January to July

This Year, 4 out of 10 Seoul Apartment Transactions Exceed 1 Billion KRW
Seocho-gu Apartments Account for 89.3% of 1 Billion KRW Transactions

As of July this year, 4 out of every 10 apartments sold in Seoul were transactions with actual prices exceeding 1 billion KRW. The preference for a single, well-located property and the easing of loan regulations appear to have increased the proportion of high-priced apartment transactions.

View of apartments in Seobu Ichon-dong from the 63 Building observatory. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the 6th, Economic Man Lab, a real estate information provider, reviewed the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's actual transaction price disclosure system and found that from January to July this year, the number of apartment sales transactions in Seoul was 21,629, of which 8,562 transactions were priced at 1 billion KRW or more.

The proportion of transactions over 1 billion KRW accounted for 39.6% of all transactions, the highest figure since related statistics began to be compiled in 2006 (based on January to July data).

The share of transactions over 1 billion KRW first exceeded 10% in 2017, recording 11.1%, then rose to 12.5% in 2018 and surged to 25.6% in 2019. After falling to 21.6% in 2020, it increased again to 36.4% in both 2021 and 2022.

The district with the highest proportion of apartment transactions over 1 billion KRW was Seocho-gu. From January to July this year, out of 955 apartment sales transactions in Seocho-gu, 853 were priced at 1 billion KRW or more, accounting for 89.3% of the total.

Following were Yongsan-gu at 86.2%, Gangnam-gu at 85.5%, Songpa-gu at 77.4%, Seongdong-gu at 67.4%, Mapo-gu at 63.9%, Gwangjin-gu at 60.2%, Jongno-gu at 57.5%, Gangdong-gu at 53.9%, Yangcheon-gu at 49.9%, Dongjak-gu at 49.8%, and Yeongdeungpo-gu at 41.5%, all showing high proportions of apartment transactions over 1 billion KRW.

The district with the lowest proportion of transactions over 1 billion KRW was Gangbuk-gu. From January to July this year, out of 447 apartment sales transactions in Gangbuk-gu, only 5 transactions (1.1%) were priced at 1 billion KRW or more.

Hwang Hansol, a research fellow at Economic Man Lab, analyzed, "Due to the preference for a single, well-located property, demand for high-priced apartments in prime locations continues, and loans for apartments exceeding 1.5 billion KRW are also allowed, which seems to have increased the proportion of apartment transactions over 1 billion KRW."

Meanwhile, transactions priced at 900 million KRW or less from January to July this year were 13,067. Their share of total transactions was 60.4%, marking a historic low.

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