▲ Seoul apartment as seen from the 63 Building. (Reporter Go Iran photoeran@)
Apartment prices in Seoul stopped falling for the first time in 11 weeks. Yongsan-gu and Gangnam 3 districts (Gangnam, Seocho, and Songpa-gu) continued their upward trend due to expectations for reconstruction and redevelopment and an increase in demand for ‘single house’.
According to a weekly apartment price trend survey by the Korea Real Estate Agency on the 26th, this week (as of the 4th), apartment prices in Seoul (0.00%) stopped the downward trend and turned flat. It has been 11 weeks since the fourth week of January (-0.01%).
Of the 25 autonomous districts in Seoul, only apartment prices in Gangnam 3 and Yongsan-gu rose. Gangnam-gu (0.02%) reported mainly mid-to-large-sized businesses such as Gaepo and Yeoksam-dong, while Seocho-gu (0.02%) reported transactions mainly in Banpo-dong, such as new construction along the Han River. Songpa-gu (0.01%) turned upward as supplies for sale were exhausted and asking prices rose. In Yongsan-gu (0.02%), which has expectations for regional development, the range of the increase was widened.
The Seoul housing market continued to decline as lending regulations and interest rate hikes combined with the presidential election, but after the election of President Yoon, it is entering an upward trend again, mainly for high-priced apartments. It is interpreted that the expectation of President-elect Yoon’s pledge to ease loan and reconstruction regulations was reflected.
Apartment prices are also on the rise. According to the real transaction price disclosure system of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, a 158 m² type dedicated to ‘Gaepo Wooseong 1’ in Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, was sold for 5.1 billion won on the 19th of last month. This is a far greater amount than the previous high (3.6 billion won). Currently, the asking price is in the range of 4.8 billion to 4.9 billion won.
The 120㎡ type of ‘Hangang Mansion’ in Ichon-dong, Yongsan-gu was sold for 4.25 billion won in February. This is 250 million won higher than the 4 billion won traded in October last year. Currently, the asking price is in the range of 4.5 billion won to 4.6 billion won.
Lim Byung-cheol, head of the Real Estate R114 research team, said, “Buying sentiment is recovering as the Real Estate Task Force (TF) of the Presidential Transition Committee begins discussions on easing the reconstruction regulations. As much as we can play again, we need to adjust the pace of real estate deregulation,” he said.
