Apartment sales in Gyeonggi Province surged in January–February this year. Analysts said end users turned their eyes to Gyeonggi on the impact of sharply rising home prices in Seoul.
According to the Gyeonggi Real Estate Portal on the 5th, the number of apartment sale transactions in Gyeonggi Province in January–February this year, tallied through the 3rd based on contract dates from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport real estate transaction reports, was 22,058. That was up 35.7% from the same period a year earlier (16,256). Considering that the deadline for real estate transaction reports is one month after the contract date, transactions for February are expected to increase further.
By city and county, the area with the most apartment sale transactions on a cumulative basis for January–February this year was Yongin (2,852). It was followed by Hwaseong (2,356), Suwon (2,106), Goyang (1,357), and Namyangju (1,341). In Yongin's case, bullish development catalysts such as the opening of GTX-A (Great Train eXpress), the semiconductor cluster, and the Yongin Platform City project are analyzed to have boosted apartment transaction volume.
Home prices are also on a steep rise. According to the weekly apartment price trend from the Korea Real Estate Board (REB), through the fourth week of February this year (as of Feb. 23), the area with the highest apartment sale price growth nationwide was Suji District in Yongin (4.72%). An 85-square-meter exclusive unit at "Seongbok Station Lotte Castle Gold Town" in Seongbok-dong, Suji District, Yongin, changed hands for 1.71 billion won on the 23rd of last month, setting a new record. Compared with the same-sized unit that transacted for 1.26 billion won on Feb. 25 last year, the price rose by 450 million won in one year.
Hwaseong was not designated as a land transaction permit zone when the real estate measures were announced on Oct. 15 last year, and homebuying demand has been flowing in rapidly. In particular, home prices in the Dongtan new town are rising steeply around Dongtan Station on GTX-A. A 65-square-meter exclusive unit at "Dongtan Station Lotte Castle" in Osan-dong, Dongtan District, Hwaseong, which transacted for 1.23 billion won in February last year, changed hands for 1.59 billion won on the 11th of last month.
Koh Joon-seok, a professor at the Sangnam Institute of Management at Yonsei University, said, "End users who find it difficult to buy a home in Seoul are turning to Gyeonggi, increasing apartment sale transaction volume," and noted, "Transactions are active in station-area locations with excellent transportation access to Seoul and in nonregulated areas not tied up as land transaction permit zones."
By contrast, apartment sales in Seoul decreased during the same period. According to the Seoul Real Estate Information Plaza, the number of apartment sale transactions in Seoul tallied by the city based on contract dates for January–February this year was 8,442, down 13.1% from the same period last year (9,711).
By district, apartment transaction volume in Seocho District plunged 75.1% during the same period, from 730 to 182, followed by Gangnam District (-66.2%), Seongdong District (-63.9%), Mapo District (-55.2%), Songpa District (-54.3%), and Yongsan District (-47.7%). In the "Nodogang" area (Nowon, Dobong, and Gangbuk districts), sale transactions increased. In January–February this year, apartment sale transactions in Nowon District totaled 986, up 78.6% from last year (553). Dobong and Gangbuk districts recorded growth rates of 52.4% and 53.2%, respectively.