[Report] "It Was on Fire in Early June, but Now It's Dead Quiet"... The Reversal in Dongtan's Heated Market

After Performance Bonuses, Two Weeks of
Frenzied Trading and Price Surges
Home Prices Jump Over 2% from Previous Week
Buyer Inquiries Have Dried Up Since Ten Days Ago

"Until early June, there were many visits and phone inquiries, but lately, perhaps because apartment asking prices have risen so much, customers have stopped coming."

Real estate agency office in front of Dongtan Station Hanwha Dream Green Prestige Apartments, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, on the morning of the 18th. Photo by Seongah Sim

On the 18th, the atmosphere in Dongtan, Gyeonggi Province, following the Korea Real Estate Board's announcement that local housing prices had surged more than 2% compared to the previous week, was unexpectedly subdued. A licensed real estate agent, Mr. A, whom we met in Cheonggye-dong, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, said, "Recently, inquiries about buying apartments have completely stopped. I think this situation will likely continue for a while," echoing the sentiment. We visited more than ten real estate offices near Dongtan Station that day, but every office had vacant consultation tables.

Another real estate agency owner, Mr. B, also commented, "In the past few weeks, it feels like nearby apartment prices have risen by 300 million to 400 million won," adding, "Prices have gone up so much that purchase inquiries have dropped sharply." Mr. C, a broker in Cheonggye-dong, said, "Up until about ten days ago, there were floods of inquiries from young couples and couples working nearby, but there have been very few since then."

According to the weekly apartment price trends released by the Korea Real Estate Board on this day, the apartment sales price index for Dongtan District, Hwaseong, surged by 2.22%. It is extremely rare for housing prices in a specific area to rise by more than 2% in just one week. Since the Real Estate Board started compiling weekly apartment price statistics in May 2012, such an increase in the Seoul metropolitan area has been almost unheard of. The only comparable cases are Gimpo, which rose by 2.73% in mid-November 2020 during the previous real estate boom, and the explosive increases in Gwonseon and Paldal Districts of Suwon in February of the same year. Nationally, there was the case of Sejong City, where prices jumped 2.95% in just one week in late July 2020 due to the issue of relocating the administrative capital.

In Dongtan, the price increases were concentrated mainly in Cheonggye-dong and Yeongcheon-dong near Dongtan Station. In this area, the price increase rate was 0.35% as of May 11, but it has shown a steady upward trend since then. Industry insiders believe that, as the area is not designated as a regulated zone, transactions are relatively easy, and the issue of employee bonuses has stimulated buyer sentiment.

However, perhaps due to the burden of sharply rising prices, transactions have become somewhat sluggish. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Actual Transaction Price Disclosure System, Dongtan Station Lotte Castle (a mixed-use complex), considered a flagship apartment in Dongtan District, saw a 65㎡ unit sell for 2 billion won on the 6th, after which there have been no new transactions. Currently, the highest asking price on the market has reached 2.3 billion won.

Actual transaction prices are also showing mixed trends. At Dongtan Station Central Xi, a unit of 84㎡ was sold for 1.125 billion won on the 5th, but by the 12th, the price for the same size unit had jumped nearly 300 million won to 1.42 billion won. On the other hand, at Dongtan Station Sibeom Daewon Kantavil, an 84㎡ unit, which traded at 1.5 billion won on the 6th, dropped to 1.32 billion won on the 13th. Currently, asking prices range from 1.4 billion to 1.7 billion won.

Ki-Won Yoon, head of Dongtan Station Yoon Daejang Real Estate Agency, said, "Following the announcement of SK hynix and Samsung Electronics bonuses, there was a huge surge in transaction volume and prices for about two weeks, but as apartment prices soared, things have been quiet for about ten days now. To put it numerically, demand, which was at a level of 1, suddenly jumped to 10 and has recently plummeted to about 0.5." He added, "Because you have to sign a contract and prepare a financing plan before registering an actual transaction, there is a gap of about two to three weeks between the index released by the Real Estate Board and actual transactions."

A Real Estate Board official explained the time gap between indicators and what is happening on the ground: "The weekly statistics are calculated by comprehensively referencing actual transaction cases, listings, market prices, and opinions from real estate agencies."

Panoramic view of Dongtan Yeoksibeom The Sharp Central City Apartment, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do, on the 18th. Photo by Seongah Shim

Local real estate industry insiders are keenly watching for the possibility that the upward price trend may continue. As Gyeonggi Province even raised the possibility of designating the area as a regulated zone, there is a view that a rush of buyers trying to beat the new regulations all at once could push prices even higher.

In particular, expectations for continued price increases remain strong due to robust demand from employees of nearby companies, driven by the semiconductor boom and the appeal of living close to work. There have even been cases of inquiries focused on complexes with shuttle bus stops for specific companies.

Mr. Yoon added, "Young customers who come to the office seem to prefer buying a good apartment here rather than living in an older property in places like Bundang. Some people specifically ask only about apartments close to the SK hynix shuttle bus stop."

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