[News Today] Seoul apartment prices rebound

[LEAD]

Seoul apartment prices are showing signs of heating up again. The pace of increase has picked up sharply since last week. Even apartment prices in Gangnam, which had been falling for nearly three months, have turned upward again.

[REPORT]

Units on quick sale disappeared from this apartment complex in Gangnam, Seoul and apartment prices rebounded to the January level.

Real estate agent in Gangnam-gu Dist. / (VOICE MODIFIED)

Multi-home owners sold KRW 4 bn apartments for KRW 3.3, 3.4 or 3.5 bn. Now they’re asking for KRW 4 bn again.

The Gangnam area where apartment prices fell for eleven weeks in a row started seeing an upturn last week.

The increase is even bigger when the whole of Seoul is considered.

The increase rate has returned to the level prior to the emergence of the transfer tax moratorium issue four months earlier.

Woo Byoung-tark / Shinhan Premier Pathfinder

Properties with lower prices were put on the market but were withdrawn starting May 10. It seems the policies’ effectiveness wore off.

The extreme difficulty in finding jeonse or lump sum deposit rentals is also pushing up the prices.

Nearly 25% of the jeonse apartments in Seoul disappeared from the market compared to early this year.

Kim In-man / Dir., Real Estate Economic Research Institute

Lack of jeonse stimulates property transactions. People anxious from the shortage are fuelling excessive demand by deciding to buy apartments.

There is no news of additional apartment supply until late next year.

The government pushed up the construction start date of the Taereung golf course site by one year to speed up the supply process.

But the construction is to start in 2029 even when the project is accelerated.