Seoul apartment prices rise for 89th straight week as Gangnam's three districts fall

Seoul apartment sale prices rose 0.13% from the previous week in the survey dated 19 October, extending the run of weekly rises to 89 weeks, the Korea Real Estate Board said on 22 October. Chosun Ilbo reported that the run has lasted since the first week of February last year and called it the longest on record. [ 1 , 2 ]

The rise was smaller than the 0.16% of the previous week. Chosun Ilbo reported that the weekly figure had gone from 0.09% in the fourth week of September to 0.12% and then 0.16% before easing this week. The Board said some areas saw transactions at lower prices, while large complexes, sites near stations and small and medium-sized units in good living areas with steady demand rose, lifting Seoul as a whole. [ 1 ]

Gangnam, Seocho and Songpa were the only districts in Seoul to fall. Seocho fell 0.32%, more than the 0.27% fall of the previous week. Gangnam fell 0.31%, its 11th weekly fall in a row, and Songpa fell 0.13%, a smaller drop than the previous week's 0.21%. The other 22 districts rose, led by Seongbuk and Seodaemun at 0.36% each, Jung District at 0.35%, Dobong at 0.33% and Jungnang at 0.31%. [ 1 , 5 ]

Over the year so far, Seoul prices are up 8.63%, against 6.64% in the same period last year. Seongbuk is up 16.10%, Seodaemun 13.67%, Gangseo 12.89%, Guro 12.74% and Nowon 12.57%, while Gangnam is down 1.26% from the start of the year. [ 1 , 5 ]

Gyeonggi province rose 0.21%, more than Seoul. Hwaseong Byeongjeom rose most at 0.65%, followed by Hwaseong Dongtan at 0.57%, Anyang Dongan at 0.56%, Seongnam Bundang and Gunpo at 0.53% and Suwon Yeongtong at 0.52%. Chosun Ilbo said Dongtan is up 20.83% this year. The capital region rose 0.16% and the country as a whole 0.08%. Newsis's headline attributed the southern Gyeonggi rise to 'semiconductor money', but the text available from it does not elaborate. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 5 ]

Seoul jeonse prices rose 0.16%, down from 0.18% the week before. Maeil Business said a shortage of jeonse listings is adding to buying pressure on people without a home, and that in some complexes the rise in new jeonse deposits this year exceeded the rise in sale prices. In Nowon's Junggye Geonyoung 3, an 84 square metre unit, the average sale price went from 1.238 billion won in the first quarter to 1.293 billion won in the third quarter, while the new deposit rose from 710.23 million won to 835.71 million won. [ 1 , 5 ]

Park Won-gab, senior real estate specialist at KB Kookmin Bank, told Maeil Business the jeonse market is facing 'listing instability, not price instability'. Nam Hyeok-woo of the Woori Bank real estate research institute said end users keep moving to popular or unregulated areas of Gyeonggi near Seoul, and that he expects the strength in Gyeonggi to continue for the time being regardless of regulated-area status. [ 5 ]