Driven by rising construction costs and other factors, last year's apartment presale prices hit a record high. In Seoul, they nearly reached 527 million won per 3.3 square meters, and the national average also topped 202.2 million won.
According to the "December private apartment presale price trends" by Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) on the 15th, last year's nationwide average presale price for private apartments was 202.2 million won per 3.3 square meters. Compared with the previous year's 188.9 million won, it rose 7.05%.
Last year, the average presale price in the greater Seoul area was 322 million won per 3.3 square meters, up 12.6% from a year earlier (281.3 million won). In Seoul, apartments were presold at an average of 526.9 million won per 3.3 square meters, a sharp rise of 19.5% from the previous year.
Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) said statistics on average presale prices for private apartments have been compiled since Oct. 2015. Since the statistics began, neither the nationwide nor Seoul presale prices have been higher than last year. Considering past real estate market conditions, it is estimated that there were no presales at higher prices even before the statistics were compiled.
In the five major metropolitan cities, apartments were presold last year at 214.8 million won per 3.3 square meters, while other regions excluding those cities saw presales at 140.1 million won.
The rise in average presale prices is analyzed to stem from a series of high-priced projects in the greater Seoul area being presold at high prices. In Nov. last year, Banpo Raemian One Trillion in Seocho District, Seoul, recorded presale prices of 2.637 billion–2.749 billion won for 84 square meters of exclusive area even under the price cap system. In the same month, "Hillstate Gwangmyeong 11" in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, set the presale price for 84 square meters of exclusive area at 1.641 billion won.
Park Ji-min, head of Wol Yong Subscription Research Institute, said, "This year, there are factors that push up presale prices, such as rising construction costs, but with substantial volumes of public presales in the third new towns and low-priced presales in regional markets planned, the average presale price is expected to form at a level similar to last year."