Apartment Sales Turnover Rate This Year at 3.04%... Second Lowest Ever

This year, the nationwide apartment sales turnover rate was found to be the second lowest on record. This is due to the rapid contraction of housing purchase sentiment caused by factors such as prolonged high interest rates, concerns over economic slowdown, and the gap between the desired transaction prices of buyers and sellers.

View of downtown apartments from Namsan, Seoul / Photo by Yonhap News

According to real estate platform Zigbang on the 4th, the nationwide apartment sales turnover rate this year was 3.04%, up 0.76 percentage points from last year (2.28%). However, looking at the long-term time series since the introduction of actual transaction reporting in 2006 (8.82%), it is the second lowest figure since last year.

The apartment sales turnover rate refers to the ratio of actual sales transactions to the number of apartment stock households (excluding complexes with fewer than 30 total households after completion). A decrease in this figure means a reduction in transaction frequency, indicating a decline in housing purchase demand and a weakening of market vitality.

The turnover rate has only recorded below 5% in the past two years, last year and this year. The turnover rate, which rose to 7.9% in 2020 due to prolonged low interest rates from quantitative easing measures to overcome COVID-19, dropped to 5.36% in 2021 and has remained below 5%, showing slow recovery.

The situation is even more difficult in regional areas that have been left out of the price recovery trend in the first half of this year due to oversupply, unsold inventory backlog, and lack of demand. The turnover rate in the Chungnam region this year was 4.27%, down 0.24 percentage points from last year (4.51%), marking a record low. Gangwon (4.02%), Gyeongbuk (3.87%), Jeonnam (3.77%), Jeonbuk (3.7%), Gyeongnam (3.44%), and Jeju (2.53%) also recorded their lowest turnover rates this year.

Some regions showed improvement in turnover rates. Incheon (1.66%→3.23%), Sejong (1.64%→3.2%), Daejeon (1.87%→3.34%), Daegu (1.74%→3.18%), Gyeonggi (1.55%→2.99%), Seoul (0.56%→1.76%), Ulsan (2.97%→3.71%), Busan (1.98%→2.62%), and Chungbuk (4.47%→4.54%) all saw higher turnover rates compared to last year. The market improved mainly in complexes with favorable residential conditions or where there is latent demand.

However, the recovery trend in apartment sales transactions in some areas that briefly improved in the first half of this year has slowed again in the second half. The special Bogeumjari loan (general type) ended in September, and the continued burden of high loan interest rates has made it difficult to secure housing purchase funds. Concerns over economic slowdown and housing price burdens have clearly dampened the market.

Ham Young-jin, head of Zigbang Big Data Lab, said, "With the winter off-season for transactions approaching and an overall sharp decline in purchase inquiries leading to an increase in accumulated listings, it is expected that the apartment sales turnover rate will not easily recover to the average level for the time being."

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