Last year, the transaction amount for office buildings in Seoul recorded the largest scale in 10 years since 2014.
According to Real Estate Planet, a real estate proptech corporation, the transaction volume for office buildings in Seoul, which had not exceeded 100 cases annually since 2021, recorded 105 cases last year, an increase of 31.3% compared to 80 cases the previous year. The transaction amount rose from 3.63 trillion won the previous year to 7.81 trillion won last year, an increase of 115.2%. This is the maximum amount in 10 years since 2014.
Looking at it on a monthly basis, the transaction volume for office buildings, which had maintained a trend of fewer than 10 cases per month since January of last year (9 cases), showed an increase, recording 11 cases in November and 22 cases in December. It was the first time since May 2021 (20 cases) that the monthly transaction volume exceeded 20 cases, occurring in December last year.
By major regions, GBD (Gangnam and Seocho districts) recorded 53 cases and 3.89 trillion won, representing increases of 120.8% and 360.1%, respectively. YBD (Yeongdeungpo and Mapo districts) had 9 cases, marking a 30.8% decrease, but the transaction amount surged by 270.4%, finishing at 1.14 trillion won. CBD (Jongno and Jung districts) reported the same transaction volume as the previous year (15 cases, 7.66 trillion won), with the transaction amount increasing to 2.39 trillion won, a rise of 212.5%.
The transaction volume in other regions (ETC) remained the same as the previous year at 28 cases, while the transaction amount decreased by 77.6% to 383.3 billion won.
Last year, the office transaction volume was 1,607 cases, up 53.3% compared to 2023 (1,048 cases, 2.31 trillion won), while the transaction amount showed a 37.6% increase to 3.17 trillion won. In major regions, CBD showed the only decrease in transaction volume, from 109 cases to 99, although its transaction amount rose by 30.3% to 1.39 trillion won.
The area with the largest increase in transaction volume was GBD, which recorded 574 cases, up 185.6%, while the transaction amount rose from 591.1 billion won to 848.1 billion won, an increase of 43.5%. YBD showed a transaction volume of 259 cases, representing a rise of 21.6%, and the transaction amount surged by 204.9%, totaling 404.6 billion won.
In other regions (ETC), the transaction volume was 675 cases, a 28.6% increase compared to 2023 (525 cases, 516.5 billion won), and the transaction amount increased by 3% to 531.8 billion won.
Additionally, according to a survey conducted by Real Estate Planet through on-site visits to business facilities and rental announcements from real estate management companies, the vacancy rate for office buildings in Seoul last December was 2.92%, up 0.17 percentage points from the previous month (2.75%). Except for CBD, which remained the same as November last year (3.06%), GBD (2.91%) and YBD (2.60%) all showed slight increases.
Jeong Su-min, the representative of Real Estate Planet, noted, "In March last year (1.53 trillion won) and November (1.85 trillion won), numerous large transactions worth several hundred billion won were successfully closed, which is believed to have driven the overall increase in transaction amount, and if we include the transactions conducted via the share deal method, the total transaction amount is expected to be even larger."