Non-Regulated Area Spillover Boosts Cheongna International City; 'Cheongna Arc One Prugio' Launches for Sale

Transaction Volume in Non-Regulated Incheon Surges After Expansion of Regulatory Areas
Cheongna International City Emerges as a Major Beneficiary
New Developments with Price Caps Draw Market Attention

With regulated areas continuing to expand in recent months, demand-driven transactions in the Incheon apartment market, particularly in Cheongna International City, have notably increased.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, on both October 15 of last year and June 30 of this year, major housing sites in Seoul and the metropolitan area were consecutively designated as areas subject to adjustment, speculative overheating districts, or land transaction permit zones. Incheon was excluded from both rounds of designation.

As a result, it was found that Incheon has clearly benefited from the “balloon effect” due to its non-regulated status. According to the Ministry's actual transaction data, after the regulatory designation in October of last year, apartment sales transactions in Incheon during the first quarter of this year (8,283 transactions) and the second quarter (8,488 transactions) averaged 8,386 per quarter. This is an increase of approximately 21% compared to the previous four quarters (Q4 2024 to Q3 2025) average of 6,949 transactions before the designation.

The standout area in this context is Seohae-gu, which includes Cheongna International City. Under the same parameters, the average transaction volume over the four pre-regulation quarters was about 834. However, following the regulatory designation, there were 1,002 transactions in the first quarter of this year and 973 in the second quarter, averaging around 988 per quarter—a rise of roughly 18%.

Cheongna remains a non-regulated area, having been excluded from the most recent designations. New apartments set to be supplied are also subject to price caps, which is expected to further raise interest in the new sale market.

In addition, a series of recent positive developments centered around Cheongna are fueling expectations. The Cheongna Sky Bridge connecting Cheongna International City and Yeongjongdo opened earlier this year. The Starfield Cheongna, a large-scale shopping mall, is under construction with a target opening year of 2028. Seoul Asan Cheongna Hospital is scheduled to open in 2029. Hana Financial Group, the first among Korea's five major finance holding companies to relocate its headquarters from Seoul to Cheongna, completed the third phase group headquarters, Hana Dream Town, in May of this year. Employees from 10 affiliate companies are set to relocate there sequentially.

A real estate expert stated, “As more and more areas in the Seoul metropolitan region become regulated, Incheon is enjoying a spillover benefit as a non-regulated area. In particular, demand for locations such as Cheongna International City, which has high future value expectations, is likely to continue for some time.”

Amid these trends, a new large-scale apartment complex is scheduled for pre-sale in Cheongna International City for the first time in about a decade, based on complexes with 500 units or more. According to Real Estate R114's data, the last time a complex of this scale was offered in Cheongna was in July 2017 with the Hansin The Hue project, making this the first time in around ten years.

'Cheongna Arc One Prugio', developed by Cheongna Smart City Corp. and built by Daewoo Engineering & Construction, will be located in the Cheongna International Business Complex. It will comprise five basement levels and up to 49 above-ground floors, featuring 868 apartments sized 84 and 103 square meters, and 987 officetel units sized 105, 121, and 136 square meters, for a total of 1,855 units. Together with Peak One Prugio, which has already sold out, this forms a Prugio brand town community totaling 2,911 units.

With its scale of thousands of households, the brand town will feature outstanding landscaping and community amenities, raising the expectations for resident satisfaction.

The model house for 'Cheongna Arc One Prugio' is planned to be established in the Cheongna International City area of Incheon.

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