On the previous month, nationwide dwellings permits and starts fell by more than 40% from a year earlier. Another supply indicator, pre-sales, also fell 13.8% year over year. In particular, pre-sales of multifamily dwellings in Seoul totaled only 14 units, with the decline rate exceeding 90%.
According to the September dwellings statistics released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 30th, nationwide dwellings starts on the previous month were 16,046 units, down 46.4% from the same month a year earlier. During the same period, starts in the greater Seoul area were 9,308 units, down 43.3%. Starts in non-capital regions also fell 50.2% to 6,738 units.
Dwellings permits nationwide were 25,938 units, down 45.4% from the same period a year earlier. Permits in the greater Seoul area were 17,620 units, down 15.2%, while permits in non-capital regions fell 68.9% to 8,318 units.
Nationwide approvals for pre-sales of multifamily dwellings were 19,751 units, and dwellings completions were 18,449 units, down 13.8% and 17.3%, respectively, from a year earlier.
Compared with the previous month, supply indicators showed different patterns. Nationwide permits rose 20.0%, pre-sales rose 14.2%, and completions rose 21.8%. In contrast, starts fell 10.9% from the previous month.
Seoul, which suffers from a shortage of dwellings supply, showed deterioration in all other supply indicators—permits, starts, and pre-sales—except completions. On the previous month, Seoul dwellings permits were 4,431 units, down 60.8% from the previous month (11,306 units) and down 8.5% from the same month a year earlier. Starts were 1,176 units, down 13.5% from the same month last year. Among these, apartment starts were 487 units, down 40.0% year over year.
The decline in pre-sales performance in Seoul was even larger. On the previous month, approvals for pre-sales of multifamily dwellings totaled 14 units. This was down 94.5% from the same month a year earlier (254 units) and down 99.0% from the previous month (1,473 units).
By contrast, Seoul dwellings completions were 1,251 units, up 36.3% from the same month last year. This was down 73.5% from the previous month.
For cumulative results from January to September this year, Seoul's permits, starts, and pre-sales all exceeded last year's volumes. Seoul permits were 44,371 units, up 33.3% from a year earlier; starts were 21,855 units, up 36.5%. Pre-sales also rose 73.7% to 15,976 units. In contrast, completions were 26,881 units, down 17.6%. Looking only at apartment completions, they were 22,768 units, down 21.5%.
Nationwide dwellings sale transactions were 48,997 on the previous month, up 1.3% from the previous month. Year over year, the figure fell 22.7%. Transactions in the greater Seoul area were 25,302, down 1.7% from the previous month, while non-capital regions recorded 23,695, up 4.8%. Year over year, transactions fell 19.2% in the greater Seoul area and 26.1% in non-capital regions.
Looking only at sales of Seoul apartments, there were 3,915 transactions in September, down 14.7% from the previous month and down 42.4% year over year.
Jeonse and monthly rent transactions showed a downward trend. Nationwide jeonse and monthly rent transactions totaled 196,210, down 1.5% from the previous month and down 15.0% from a year earlier. In cumulative jeonse and monthly rent transactions from January to September this year, the share of monthly rents was 68.6%, up 6.0 percentage points from a year earlier.
Nationwide unsold dwellings showed a decline. As of the end of the previous month, nationwide unsold units were 65,941, down 3,193 units (4.6%) from the previous month. The greater Seoul area recorded 18,057 units, down 5.6%, and non-capital regions recorded 47,884 units, down 4.2%.
Unsold units after completion, classified as "malignant unsold" because they remain unsold even after construction is finished, were 27,549 units, down 531 units (1.9%) from the previous month. In non-capital regions, they fell by 644 units to 23,067, while in the greater Seoul area they rose by 113 units (2.6%) to 4,482.
