Average Jeonse Price of Northern Seoul Apartments Tops 600 Million Won for First Time

The average jeonse price of apartments across the 14 districts of northern Seoul stood at 600.81 million won this month, surpassing the 600 million won mark for the first time since related statistics began in 2011. As rising jeonse prices mean tenants must put up more money upfront, this underscores the growing burden of housing costs in the northern part of the city. According to KB Real Estate, apartment jeonse prices in northern Seoul have risen more than 11 percent cumulatively this year, compared with gains of around 7 percent in southern Seoul and around 9 percent for Seoul as a whole.

In an apartment complex of some 1,000 older units in Seoul's Seodaemun district, the jeonse deposit for a 23-pyeong unit rose from 520 million won in April to as much as 600 million won recently, and one newlywed couple managed to sign a contract for about 595 million won after negotiations. As jeonse prices climb due to stricter residency requirements and a shortage of available units, more prospective tenants are turning to monthly rentals or outright purchases.

Sale prices are no less steep. The average sale price of apartments in northern Seoul first surpassed 1.1 billion won in March this year and continued to climb, breaking through 1.2 billion won this month. Nam Hyuk-woo, a researcher at Woori Bank's real estate research institute, analyzed, "There was buying activity by end-users depending on access to loans, and since the gap between sale and jeonse prices has narrowed, tenants are also believed to have joined in buying homes, which is reflected in the prices."

With both jeonse and sale prices rising together, the barrier to homeownership in northern Seoul, which had long been relatively affordable compared with the rest of the capital, has grown higher. The housing cost burden on ordinary citizens without homes is mounting.