As dwelling prices in Seoul surge and shortages of jeonse and monthly rental supply worsen, end users without homes are turning their eyes to Gyeonggi areas adjacent to Seoul that are not regulated areas. They are gathering not only loans but even revenue from stock investments to buy dwellings, making the so-called "balloon effect" from government regulations increasingly evident.
On the 1st, People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jong-uk of the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee analyzed dwelling fund sourcing plans submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and found that the scale of dwelling purchase payments in 18 border cities, counties and districts within Gyeonggi Province that touch Seoul and Gyeonggi regions designated as land transaction permit zones soared 158.7% from a year earlier.
This compares the seven months after the Oct. 15 measures were announced (Nov. 2025 to May 2026) with the same period a year earlier. The adjacent areas are Guri, Namyangju, Gwangju, Cheoin District, Yongin; Giheung District, Yongin; Gwonseon District, Suwon; Dongtan District, Hwaseong; Byeongjeom District, Hwaseong; Gunpo; Manan District, Anyang; Siheung; Sosa District, Bucheon; Wonmi District, Bucheon; Ojeong District, Bucheon; Gimpo; Deogyang District, Goyang; Yangju; and Uijeongbu.
Compared with the growth rate of dwelling purchase funds for all of Seoul and Gyeonggi at 14.9% and 77%, respectively, the rise in these border areas is unmatched. By area, the total funding sourced in Dongtan District, Hwaseong reached 4.3 trillion won, up 215%, and Giheung District, Yongin also recorded 2 trillion won, rising 191.8%.
The same pattern was clearly seen in the move to liquidate securities assets for real estate purchases. During the survey period, the growth rate of stock and bond sale proceeds across Seoul and Gyeonggi was 149.2% and 325.5%, respectively. By contrast, the border areas rose 531.6%. In particular, Guri saw inflows of funds from stock and bond sales jump 1,028.8%, while Dongtan District, Hwaseong posted a hefty 678% increase.
This appears to be because, as the government tightened control over the real estate market, apartment prices in Seoul's core areas spiked and jeonse listings vanished, prompting end users anxious about housing to squeeze every asset they could mobilize, including stock sale funds, to buy dwellings in Gyeonggi's outskirts and border areas where regulations are relatively looser.
Lee said, "The Lee Jae-myung administration said it would guide funds concentrated in real estate into the stock market and shift them to productive investment, but the policy intent has been rendered meaningless as it failed to stabilize home prices and manage the jeonse and monthly rental market," adding, "Even now, the government must correct its regulation-only real estate policy and prepare measures to expand supply and stabilize the jeonse and monthly rental market that end users in Seoul and the greater capital area can feel."