As a result of the impact of the real estate measures implemented on June 27, including loan regulations, the nationwide apartment move-in outlook index has significantly declined this month. The move-in outlook index is an indicator that predicts whether a person who has purchased an apartment will be able to pay the remaining balance and move in. A score below 100 indicates a negative outlook for the move-in market, while a score above 100 indicates a dominant positive outlook.
The Korea Housing Institute (KHI) noted on the 13th that the apartment move-in outlook index for August dropped to 75.7, a decrease of 20.1 points from the previous month (95.8).
This is interpreted as a deterioration in the apartment move-in outlook, following a sharp decrease in housing transactions after the implementation of the loan regulation that limited housing collateral loans in the metropolitan area to 600 million won.
In the metropolitan area, the index dropped from 117.1 in the previous month to 76.1 in August, a decline of 41.0 points. The large cities decreased from 91.0 to 80.2, down 10.8 points, while rural areas fell from 91.5 to 72.2, a drop of 19.3 points.
Breaking down the metropolitan areas, Seoul decreased from 121.2 to 76.3, a drop of 44.9 points; Incheon went from 111.5 to 70.3, down 41.2 points; and Gyeonggi Province fell from 118.7 to 81.8, a decrease of 36.9 points.
Among the five major cities, only Daejeon saw a slight increase from 87.5 to 91.6, while all rural areas experienced declines.
The KHI analyzed that "concerns about the future real estate policy centered on demand suppression, along with the restrictions on the housing collateral loan limit of 600 million won and the prohibition of using Jeonse loans to cover the remaining balance, which are regulations that have been implemented immediately due to the total debt service ratio (DSR) applied to the sold apartments since last year, seem to have led to the negative outlook."
In July, the nationwide apartment occupancy rate was 63.9%, an increase of 3.0 percentage points from June. The metropolitan area rose from 80.8% to 83.4%, an increase of 2.6 percentage points. The five major cities rose from 53.8% to 60.8%, up 7.0 percentage points, while other regions increased from 58.7% to 58.8%, a rise of 0.1 percentage points.
"Failure to secure the remaining balance loan" was the largest obstacle to moving in, rising from 27.1% to 38.5%. The KHI analyzed that the liquidity crunch caused by loan regulations has constrained the move-in of several purchasers.