Seven out of 10 users of the real estate information platform ZIGBANG CO. said they are thinking of buying a home next year.
On Dec. 29, ZIGBANG CO. said a mobile survey it ran on its app from the 3rd to the 17th on the outlook for next year's dwellings market found that 69.9% (339 people) of all respondents (485 people) plan to purchase a home. That was slightly lower than the first half of this year (73.1%) but still high.
The most common reason for wanting to buy was "moving from jeonse or monthly rent to owning a home" (46.6%). That was followed by "moving to a different area" (22.7%) and "upsizing or downsizing" (10.3%).
By contrast, reasons such as "investment, including for capital gains" (7.4%) and "for rental revenue" (2.9%) drew relatively low response rate figures, which ZIGBANG CO. said shows that demand to buy dwellings is centered on end use.
On the question of purchase expense for dwellings, the largest share chose "more than 300 million won to 600 million won or less" (38.9%), followed by "300 million won or less" (31.9%) and "more than 600 million won to 900 million won or less" (16.8%). Demand to buy is relatively concentrated in mid- to low-priced homes.
Meanwhile, 30.1% (146 people) said they have no plans to buy dwellings. The main reasons were "already have a place to live or own dwellings, so no intention to buy more" (32.9%), "dwellings prices are too high" (26.7%), "expect prices to fall" (13.0%), "burden from loan interest expense" (12.3%) and "overall economic downturn" (9.6%).
In this survey, 46.2% said they plan to sell dwellings within the next year. The reasons most often cited for planning to sell were "moving to a different area" (34.8%), "upsizing or downsizing" (17.4%), "burden from loan interest" (14.3%) and "taking profits and changing investments" (10.7%).
A ZIGBANG CO. official said, "Heading into 2026, interest in buying in the dwellings market has been adjusted somewhat but remains high, centered on end users, while the approach to selling has become more cautious," adding, "After price increases in the first half of this year, rather than rushing to decide to sell, more people are waiting to see how things play out, strengthening a wait-and-see stance, and willingness to sell has moderated compared with before."