One in Four Seoul Apartments Bought by 'Oejin'... Record High Purchase Share

Annual Increase... Gangbuk-gu Has the Highest Purchase Share
Impact of Seoul Apartment Supply Shortage and Perception of Price Bottom

Last year, one out of every four apartments in Seoul was purchased by non-residents. Since the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) began compiling related statistics, the proportion of purchases by non-residents has reached an all-time high. This was influenced by the perception that Seoul apartment prices had hit their lowest point last year and by a shortage of apartment supply.

On the 1st, Economy Man Lab analyzed the apartment sales transaction status from the Korea Real Estate Board and found that among the 36,439 apartment sales transactions in Seoul in 2023, 24.6% (8,955 transactions) were made by non-residents. This is the highest since MOLIT started compiling statistics in 2006.

The proportion of non-residents purchasing apartments in Seoul exceeded 20% starting in 2018 (20.7%). Since then, it showed an upward trend: ▲2019 at 21.9%, ▲2020 at 22.2%, ▲2021 at 20.3%, and ▲2022 at 22.3%.

Last year, while the local real estate market outside Seoul failed to show signs of recovery, only the Seoul real estate market rebounded slightly, which is interpreted as non-residents actively investing.

The district with the highest proportion of non-resident purchases in Seoul is Gangbuk-gu. Last year, out of 849 apartment sales transactions in Gangbuk-gu, 306 (36.0%) were by non-residents.

Following Gangbuk-gu are Gwanak-gu (35.2%), Mapo-gu (30.6%), Gangdong-gu (29.3%), Songpa-gu (29.2%), Yongsan-gu (26.4%), Dongjak-gu (25.9%), Gwangjin-gu (25.7%), Jung-gu (25.6%), and Gangseo-gu (24.7%).

The proportion of non-resident transactions also increased in the Gangnam 4 districts. Gangnam-gu (23.4%) and Seocho-gu (23.6%) rose by 11.9 percentage points and 2.8 percentage points respectively compared to the previous year. Songpa-gu (29.2%) increased by 2.4 percentage points, and Gangdong-gu (29.3%) by 3.4 percentage points.

Last year, the volume of apartment sales transactions by Seoul residents in other regions was 21,553 (5.2%), the lowest since 2014 (5.1%).

Hwang Hansol, a research analyst at Economy Man Lab, said, "It appears that non-residents with a strong investment tendency have stepped in to buy due to the shortage of apartment supply in Seoul and the perception that housing prices have bottomed out."

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