GTX-C Breaks Ground, Bringing Suwon Within One Hour of Seoul

The GTX-C (Great Train Express) line, which runs from Yangju through Seoul to Suwon, broke ground on the 15th after roughly two years of delays. However, it will take another 60 months from the groundbreaking to opening.

It currently takes more than an hour by subway to travel from Suwon Station to Samseong Station in Seoul, but once GTX-C opens, the trip will be cut by more than half to under 30 minutes.

News of the groundbreaking has already pushed up apartment prices around Suwon Station. A 74-square-meter unit in an apartment complex of some 4,000 households near Suwon Station, which traded for 750 million won early this year, has recently been priced in the late 800-million-won range, with some pending contracts topping 900 million won. Rising apartment prices are especially pronounced across southern Gyeonggi, including Yeongtong in Suwon, Giheung in Yongin, and Dongtan in Hwaseong, areas that host semiconductor industrial complexes.

"There are many residents working at companies near Samsung, and they are turning into buyers," said Lee Hyun-ju, a licensed real estate agent. "Record-high prices keep being broken." Park Won-gap, senior real estate specialist at KB Kookmin Bank, analyzed, "Expectations for bonuses at major semiconductor firms and for improved transit networks are so high, and jeonse listings are virtually nonexistent, that some consumers are stepping out to buy."