The phenomenon of 'apartment concentration' has intensified due to the jeonse fraud crisis, and it has been reported that only 1,800 villas were completed in Seoul this year.
According to statistics on housing construction performance from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the number of completed multi-family, multi-unit, and row houses in Seoul from January to May this year is 1,813, a decrease of 38.4% compared to the same period last year (2,945). The total number of dwellings in Seoul is 22,073,000 (as of 2023), but it is noted that the number of new build villas that have been occupied this year is less than 2,000.
Compared to the same period four years ago in 2021 (10,517 units), the number of occupied units has decreased to one-sixth. The number of completed multi-family, multi-unit, and row houses in Seoul has been 22,000 to 25,000 units each year from 2020 to 2023, but it has sharply fallen to 14,124 units in 2023 and 6,512 units last year.
This stands in stark contrast to the number of completed apartments. From January to May this year, the number of completed apartments in Seoul is 20,702, an increase of 74.5% compared to the same period last year (11,876 units).
To revitalize the non-apartment market, the government has decided to supply 110,000 units of 'newly built purchase rentals' where the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) purchased villas over the past two years, last year and this year, to supply them as rental housing. Furthermore, a short-term rental system allowing one-homeowners who purchase villas to register for short-term leasing has been revived, qualifying for the one-household, one-home exception.
As a result, the authorization and commencement of villa construction have increased, but there is still a long way to normalization. The authorization for multi-family, multi-unit, and row houses that can be estimated to be supplied in Seoul in the next 1 to 2 years has risen to 2,098 units from January to May, an increase of 66.1% compared to the same period last year (1,263 units). However, it is still far from the level of 8,549 units in January to May 2022.
According to an analysis by Professor Kim Jin-yu of the Department of Traffic Engineering at Kyonggi University, the average annual authorization volume for non-apartments over the past three years (2022-2024) has decreased by 77.8% compared to the average of the previous 10 years (2012-2021). Concerns that a lack of housing supply will drive up housing prices are exacerbating the anxieties of actual demanders, indicating that conditions must be established for a proper supply of non-apartments with shorter construction periods to stabilize the market.