Seoul Apartment Auction Bid Ratio Drops Below 90%... Waning Demand for High-Priced, Large Units [Real Estate AtoZ]

Seoul’s Successful Auction Bid Ratio Falls to 89.3% in Third Week of September

Remains Below 100% for Three Consecutive Weeks

High-Priced Transactions Continue in Dongtan and Yongin, Gyeonggi Province

The apartment auction closing price ratio in Seoul fell below 90% in the third week of September. Analysts attribute the drop in the overall closing price ratio to the sluggish bidding demand for large-sized units.

According to GG Auction, a company specializing in auction and public sale data, the closing price ratio for Seoul apartments in the third week of this month stood at 89.3%. This was a decrease of 5.5 percentage points from the previous week’s figure of 94.8%. When the closing price ratio falls below 100%, it means that the successful bid price is lower than the appraised value. For three consecutive weeks in September, the closing price ratio for Seoul apartments has remained below 100%. The average number of bidders, which measures demand, recorded 5.8, a 0.9 increase from 4.9 the previous week.

A panoramic view of apartments in the Gangnam area as seen from the Lotte World Tower Sky Deck in Songpa-gu, Seoul. Photo by Dongjoo Yoon

The reason appears to be the low closing price ratios seen in high-priced and large-sized apartment units. A total of 10 apartment auctions were held in Seoul this week; among them, the Park Reneville unit in Gwangjin-gu, Guui-dong (exclusive area 207m²) was auctioned off at a closing price ratio of 83.72% (1,439.9 million won). The initial appraised value was 1,720 million won, and the property was sold after one failed attempt. In Songpa-gu, Jamsil-dong, the Park In-Soo apartment (exclusive area 143m²), sold at a closing price ratio of 83.62% (1,429.9 million won). This complex was initially auctioned at an appraised value of 1,710 million won, but was successfully sold after one unsuccessful auction.

In contrast, mid-range and lower-priced apartments under 1.5 billion won achieved closing price ratios exceeding 100%. For example, the Daea apartment unit (85m²) in Pungnap-dong, Songpa-gu, drew 11 bidders and was sold at 104.2% (899.99 million won) of its appraised value.

Meanwhile, in Incheon, the closing price ratio remained in the 80% range for two consecutive weeks. This week, Incheon's closing price ratio was 85.4%, up by 4.9 percentage points from the previous week’s 80.5%. Although the closing rate (22.6%) fell by 12.2 percentage points from 34.8% the previous week, indicating weak overall demand, the number of bidders increased around Songdo and Cheongna, resulting in a slight upward trend. In Songdo, the Global Campus Prugio recorded a closing price ratio of 90.6%, Lotte Castle Campus Town recorded 89.1%, and Cheongna Central Aileen’s Garden recorded 90.3%.

In the Gyeonggi Province area, the closing price ratio surged by 9.1 percentage points compared to the previous week, reaching 96.7%. The rise in high-priced winning bids focusing on the semiconductor belt—such as Giheung-gu in Yongin, and Yeongtong and Dongtan in Suwon—drove up the overall metropolitan area closing price ratio. The Botdeul Village in Bundang-gu, Seongnam was sold at 134.9% of its appraised value; Jinhung in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon at 127.8%; Parkview in Giheung-gu, Yongin at 125.3%; and Bandoyu Bora Ivy Park in Dongtan-gu, Hwaseong at 122.3%. The average number of bidders reached 6.6, a 0.4 increase from last week’s 6.2.

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