As of May, the average pre-sale price per pyeong of apartments in the Seoul metropolitan area was found to have risen by nearly 30% from a year earlier.
On the 9th, Real Today, a real estate research firm, analyzed statistics on trends in private apartment pre-sale prices from the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) and found that as of May, the average pre-sale price per 3.3 square meters for apartments in the Seoul metropolitan area was 36.56 million won. This was a 27.2% increase from the same month a year earlier (28.74 million won).
Compared with the 10.9% increase from 2024 (25.92 million won) to 2025, the pace of growth has picked up. Nationwide as well, the average pre-sale price per 3.3 square meters for apartments rose 12.6% from 18.97 million won to 21.36 million won.
HUG's monthly average pre-sale price is the average pre-sale price for private pre-sale projects that received pre-sale guarantees over the 12 months up to and including the month in question. It is an indicator that shows the trend in pre-sale prices over the past year rather than short-term fluctuations.
Nam Hyuk-woo of the Woori Bank real estate research institute said, "As construction costs have risen sharply recently, those higher costs are being reflected in the pre-sale prices for general supply."
The sharp rise in pre-sale prices is driven by higher construction costs. Nam Hyuk-woo of the Woori Bank real estate research institute said, "As construction costs have risen significantly in recent years, the contributions shouldered by reconstruction association members have also increased sharply," and added, "The slower the members reach agreement, the more construction costs go up, which ultimately leads to higher pre-sale prices."
According to the Construction Cost Management Center at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT), in May the construction cost index rose 0.40% from the previous month to a provisional 137.67, marking a record high since the index began in 2000.