Carrying the 'Jibmusil'... Yongsan Apartments Join Gangnam and Seocho Ranks

Expectations for Accelerated Development Projects
Turning Upward After 9 Weeks
Highest Increase in Medium-Sized Areas

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] Apartment prices in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, where the presidential office relocation plan was announced, have turned upward after 9 weeks. In particular, prices of mid-sized apartments, which are highly preferred, surged sharply, indicating expectations for regional development.

According to the Korea Real Estate Board's survey on the 1st, apartment prices in Yongsan-gu rose mainly around Ichon and Hangangno-dong, turning from -0.01% last week to 0.01% this week. This is the first time in 9 weeks since January 24 (0.01%) that apartment prices in Yongsan-gu have shown an upward trend. Jongno-gu, where the Blue House is located, also stopped declining after 10 weeks and recorded a flat trend. The Real Estate Board analyzed, "Apartment prices in Yongsan were driven up by apartment complexes in Ichon-dong and the Hangangno area." This is interpreted as reflecting expectations that redevelopment and development projects such as the creation of Yongsan Park, the development of the international business district, and the undergrounding of railroads around Seoul Station will accelerate due to the presidential office relocation.

In fact, in the apartment areas near Hangangno, inquiries from buyers have recently increased, and owners have raised asking prices, showing a market atmosphere quite different from before the presidential election. The asking price for an 84㎡ unit in ‘Byeoksan Megatrium’ in Hangangno 2-ga, Yongsan-gu, was around 1.6 billion KRW but rose to 1.8 billion KRW following continuous purchase inquiries after the office relocation announcement. In the case of Prime Palace urban-style residential housing in Munbae-dong, Yongsan-gu, near the Ministry of National Defense, owners are reportedly withdrawing their listings recently.

By size, mid-sized and large-sized apartments with exclusive areas over 65㎡ and up to 135㎡ in the downtown area all turned to an upward trend. Especially, prices of mid-sized apartments with exclusive areas over 85㎡ and up to 102㎡ (formerly 30 to 40 pyeong), which are highly preferred, surged sharply by 0.74 percentage points this week, showing the highest increase rate. The government's successive real estate regulations have deepened the preference for a ‘smart single home’ by reducing the number of houses, which seems to have fueled the popularity of mid-sized apartments. In the downtown area, apartments over 60㎡ and up to 85㎡ and those over 102㎡ and up to 135㎡ turned from -0.02% and -0.01% last week to 0.06% and 0.16% this week, respectively. The decline rate for apartments under 40㎡ decreased (-0.14% → -0.03%), but those over 40㎡ and up to 60㎡ fell further (-0.01% → -0.10%). Apartments over 135㎡ also increased their decline rate from flat to -0.46%.

This week, Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu each rose by 0.01%, marking two consecutive weeks of increase. Among the 25 autonomous districts, only these three areas including Yongsan-gu showed an upward trend. These are representative areas where expectations have grown that regulations such as reconstruction and various real estate taxes will be eased under the new government. The Real Estate Board explained, "Some high-priced complexes and reconstruction projects in the Gangnam area, where regulatory easing is expected, are being traded at record prices."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.