Apartment prices in the three Gangnam districts of Seoul—Seocho, Gangnam, and Songpa—and in Yongsan turned downward.
According to weekly apartment price trends for the fourth week of February (as of Feb. 23) released on the 26th by the Korea Real Estate Board (REB), Seoul apartment sale prices rose 0.11% from the previous week. The pace of increase narrowed by 0.04 percentage point, extending a four-week slowdown.
The Korea Real Estate Board (REB) said, "While mixed movements appeared by area and complex, including transactions of price-cut listings in some complexes, demand continued to concentrate on large, highly preferred complexes and those near subway stations, lifting Seoul overall."
Apartment prices in Gangnam District fell 0.06% from the previous week. Gangnam home prices had been rising since the second week of March 2024 but turned downward for the first time in 100 weeks. Songpa District (-0.03%), Seocho District (-0.02%), and Yongsan District (-0.01%) also turned downward all at once under the influence of urgent sales with lowered asking prices. Seocho last fell in the second week of March 2024, Songpa in the first week of February that year, and Yongsan in the first week of March, then maintained an upward trend throughout, turning negative for the first time in about two years.
Ahead of the end on May 9 this year of the temporary suspension of heavy capital gains taxes for multiple-home owners, some multiple-home owners lowered asking prices and rushed to dispose of dwellings, and owners of a single high-priced home also put profit-taking listings on the market in view of the possibility that discussions on revamping the property tax could intensify after the June local elections, which is seen as pulling prices down.
All of the remaining 21 autonomous districts in Seoul rose. Gangseo District (0.23%), Jongno District (0.21%), Dongdaemun District (0.21%), Yeongdeungpo District (0.21%), Seongdong District (0.20%), and Gwangjin District (0.20%) posted relatively high gains.
Gyeonggi Province (0.08%→0.10%) saw a slight expansion in the pace of increase from the previous week, with Suji District in Yongin (0.61%), Guri (0.39%), Bundang District in Seongnam (0.32%), and Hanam (0.31%) showing strength.
Incheon rose 0.02% from the previous week, and the greater Seoul area as a whole climbed 0.09%. Outside the greater Seoul area (0.02%), the five major metropolitan cities, Sejong, and the eight provinces all rose 0.02%. Nationwide sale prices increased 0.05% from the previous week.
Nationwide apartment jeonse prices rose 0.07% from the previous week. In Seoul (0.08%), while price-cut transactions appeared in some complexes amid a continued shortage of listings, overall prices rose as lease demand remained steady for large and preferred complexes.
In Songpa District (-0.11%), jeonse prices fell as supply increased with the move-ins at the large complexes Jamsil Raemian I'Park in Sincheon-dong (2,678 households) and Jamsil LE | EL (1,865 households), and Yongsan District (-0.01%) also turned weak. In contrast, Nowon District (0.18%), Yangcheon District (0.16%), Eunpyeong District (0.15%), and Jongno District (0.14%) were among those with relatively high increases.
Gyeonggi Province rose 0.10% from the previous week, Incheon rose 0.07%, and the greater Seoul area as a whole climbed 0.09%. Outside the greater Seoul area (0.05%), the five major metropolitan cities rose 0.07%, Sejong rose 0.18%, and the eight provinces each rose 0.03%.