Since February, when the disposal of dwellings by multiple-home owners picked up in earnest, more than eight out of every 10 apartments sold in Seoul were mid- to low-priced dwellings worth 1.5 billion won or less, which are eligible for loans of up to 600 million won.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's actual transaction price reporting system on the 17th, 81.6% of Seoul apartment sale contracts reported from February to the 16th were transactions of 1.5 billion won or less. That was up 3.4 percentage points from 78.2% in the previous three months (November last year to January this year). Compared with 75.8% right before the Oct. 15 measures (August to October last year), the tilt toward mid- to low-priced transactions deepened by 5.8 percentage points.
This trend began on Jan. 23, when President Lee Jae-myung formalized, via his social media X (Twitter), the plan to end the grace period on heavier capital gains taxes for multiple-home owners. After that, the number of Seoul apartment listings, which had stood at 56,219 based on Asil's tally, surged to 80,080 on Mar. 21, up 42.4%.
Meanwhile, after the Oct. 15 measures last year, all of Seoul was designated as a regulated area and a land transaction permit zone, and mortgage loans for dwellings over 1.5 billion won were cut to 200 million–400 million won, driving up transactions centered on mid- to low-priced homes that still allow buyers to borrow up to 600 million won.
In particular, as multiple-home owners disposed first of lower-priced apartments in outlying areas with lighter tax burdens, the share of transactions for listings at or below 600 million won among those under 1.5 billion won rose from 20.7% to 23.6%, and those over 600 million won to under 900 million won increased from 26.3% to 28.7%. By contrast, even though loans of up to 600 million won are also possible, the share for 900 million won to under 1.5 billion won fell from 31.2% in November last year–January this year to 29.2% in February–May this year.
With transactions increasingly focused on mid- to low-priced apartments, the average transaction price for Seoul apartments reported from February to May this year was 1.09846 billion won. That was about 80 million won lower than the previous three-month average of 1.18834 billion won.