Seoul Housing Starts Reach 32,000 Units Last Year...Up 23% from Previous Year

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 4th that housing starts last year reached 32,000 units, a surge of 23.2% compared to the previous year.

원본보기 아이콘

This figure is based on an analysis of housing construction performance statistics from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the online permit system “Seumter,” and Seoul’s urban renewal project statistics, and shows that supply performance improved significantly compared with 2024.

Of the total housing starts, apartment starts came to 27,000 units, up 24.3% over the same period. Among these, apartment urban renewal project volume reached 14,000 units, a 3.7% increase from a year earlier, accounting for half (50.9%) of all apartment starts.

Completions totaled 55,000 units, an increase of 39.7% over the same period. Of these, 50,000 units were supplied as apartments, making up most of the completed volume. Units completed through urban renewal projects totaled 37,000, while those completed through non-renewal projects came to 13,000.

An official from the Seoul Metropolitan Government said, “With available land being limited, urban renewal projects are serving as the core means of housing supply,” adding, “Non-renewal projects are supplied through housing construction project approvals and building permits (mixed-use residential-commercial complexes, urban lifestyle housing apartments, etc.) and play a supplementary supply role.”

Of last year’s apartment units completed through urban renewal projects, 75% were in districts designated between 2006 and 2010 where projects have been steadily promoted. Previously, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that, to improve apartment urban renewal project starts and completion performance, it plans to start construction on 310,000 units by 2031.

The non-apartment segment has continued to decline, affected by factors such as damages from jeonse fraud, rising raw material prices, a downturn in construction due to interest rate hikes, and a decrease in private rental housing business operators caused by regulations on multiple-home owners. Non-apartment completions stood at 6,000 units in 2024 and 5,000 units last year, a decrease of 23.7% compared with the previous year.

Choi Jinseok, Director-General of Housing Policy at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said, “Based on housing construction performance statistics, we will continuously monitor the status of each construction stage and housing type, and provide levels of housing starts and completions that citizens can tangibly feel.”

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.