Aftermath of Jeonse Fraud... This Year’s Seoul Villa Monthly Rent Transactions Hit Record High

Seoul Villa Monthly Rent Transactions Reach Over 51,000 from January to October This Year
46.6% of Seoul Villa Lease Market Is Monthly Rent
Monthly Rent Transactions Over 1 Million Won Increase 74.7% Year-on-Year

As of October this year, the monthly rental transactions for villas in Seoul have surpassed 50,000 for the first time. This is attributed to the increase in tenants preferring monthly rent over jeonse (lump-sum deposit lease) due to the rise in cases of "empty jeonse" and jeonse fraud, which have led to more instances of non-returned jeonse deposits, especially in villas. As demand for monthly rent has increased, monthly rents have also surged, increasing the housing cost burden on ordinary citizens.

On the 29th, Economic Man Lab, a real estate information provider, analyzed data from the Seoul Real Estate Information Plaza and found that from January to October this year, the total number of jeonse and monthly rental transactions for villas (multi-family and row houses) in Seoul was 111,440. Among these, monthly rental transactions reached 51,984, marking the highest ever recorded since related statistics began in 2011 (based on January to October data).

The monthly rental transactions for villas showed an increasing trend, rising from 28,043 in 2020 to 35,688 in 2021, and 46,994 in 2022. The share of monthly rent in the villa rental market also reached a record high of 46.6%.

In contrast, jeonse transactions peaked at 76,365 from January to October last year but decreased by 22.1% to 59,456 during the same period this year.

Within monthly rent transactions, quasi-jeonse transactions have also significantly increased. From January to October last year, quasi-jeonse transactions for Seoul villas were 12,429, but this year (January to October) rose by 22.3% to 15,200.

During the same period, quasi-monthly rent transactions increased by 7.2%, from 29,982 to 32,140, and pure monthly rent transactions rose by 1.3%, from 4,583 to 4,644.

Lease contracts are classified into pure monthly rent, quasi-monthly rent, and quasi-jeonse, which are combinations of jeonse and monthly rent. Pure monthly rent refers to leases where the deposit is less than or equal to 12 months' worth of monthly rent; quasi-monthly rent refers to deposits between 12 and 240 months' worth of monthly rent; and quasi-jeonse refers to deposits exceeding 240 months' worth of monthly rent.

Among Seoul's 25 districts, Songpa-gu recorded the highest number of monthly rental transactions with 8,321 cases. This was followed by Gangnam-gu with 3,325, Gangseo-gu with 3,192, Gwangjin-gu with 3,029, Mapo-gu with 2,918, Gangdong-gu with 2,887, Seocho-gu with 2,871, Eunpyeong-gu with 2,624, Gwanak-gu with 2,507, and Dongjak-gu with 2,134.

Hwang Hansol, a research fellow at Economic Man Lab, said, "Due to concerns about not being able to recover jeonse deposits, jeonse transactions for villas are sharply declining," adding, "It is expected that jeonse demand for villas will shift to quasi-jeonse villas or apartment jeonse."

Meanwhile, from January to October this year, the number of monthly rental transactions for villas in Seoul with rents exceeding 1 million won also reached a record high of 6,505.

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