This year's first half indicators of housing supply, including permits, construction starts, sales, and completions, all showed a decline. Housing supply in the metropolitan area, including Seoul, has improved, but the supply indicators in the provinces have worsened. The 'malicious unsold' dwellings, which were completed but not sold, decreased for the first time in 23 months.
According to the 'June housing statistics' announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 31st, the number of housing permits nationwide in the first half of this year (January to June) was 138,456 dwellings, a 7.6% decrease from the previous year (149,860 dwellings).
In the metropolitan area, including Seoul, permits increased by 22.7% to 73,959 dwellings, showing improvement in supply indicators, but in the provinces, permits decreased by 28.0% to 64,497 dwellings.
However, construction and sales performance decreased in both the metropolitan and provincial areas. The nationwide housing construction performance for the first half of this year was 103,147 dwellings, an 18.9% decrease from the previous year (127,249 dwellings). The construction performance in the metropolitan area also decreased by 8.1% to 65,631 dwellings compared to the previous year (71,448 dwellings), while in the provinces, it decreased significantly by 32.8% to 37,516 dwellings.
Sales were also limited to 67,965 dwellings nationwide in the first half of this year, down 39.6% from the same period last year (112,495 dwellings). Sales in the metropolitan area decreased by 18.4% from 50,000 dwellings to 49,986 dwellings. In the provinces, housing sales plummeted by 56.7% from 62,295 dwellings to 26,979 dwellings.
Housing completions for the first half of this year totaled 205,611 dwellings, a 6.4% decrease. While completions in the metropolitan area increased by 9.2% to 100,144 dwellings, completions in the provinces decreased by 17.7% to 104,567 dwellings. The number of apartment completions in Seoul for the first half of this year was 29,420 dwellings, a 102.9% increase compared to the same period last year.
The number of unsold dwellings after completion, classified as 'malicious unsold,' showed a decline for the first time in 23 months since July 2022. As of the end of June, the number of unsold dwellings post-completion nationwide was 26,716 dwellings, a 1.1% decrease from the previous month.
Unsold dwellings before completion also decreased for the fifth consecutive month, with 63,734 dwellings last month, down 4.4% from the previous month. Unsold dwellings in the metropolitan area decreased by 8.9% to 13,939 dwellings, while in the provinces, the number decreased by 3.1% to 49,795 dwellings.
In June, the number of housing transactions (based on reports) reached 73,838, a 17.8% increase from the previous month. In particular, housing transaction volume in Seoul rose to 15,442, a 42.1% increase from the previous month.
The number of rental transactions was 242,305, a decrease of 4.1% from the previous month, but an increase of 25.7% compared to the same period last year. The volume of jeonse (long-term lease) transactions was 88,867, down 4.7% from the previous month. The volume of wolse (monthly rent) transactions decreased by 3.7% to 153,438. However, as of June's cumulative results, the proportion of wolse transactions increased by 3.9 percentage points to 61.4% compared to the same period last year.