SEOUL — While Seoul’s apartment sales market is showing initial signs of taking a breather after a prolonged rally, the city's rental sector is moving in the opposite direction, intensifying housing instability for tenants across the capital.

According to the weekly apartment price trends released on the 22nd by the Korea Real Estate Board (covering data as of the 19th of October), Seoul's apartment sales prices rose by 0.13% compared to the previous week. This marks the 89th consecutive week of increases since the first week of February 2025. However, the upward trajectory has slowed down, with the growth rate shrinking by 0.03 percentage points from the prior week's 0.16%. This contraction in the growth rate is the first of its kind in three weeks, suggesting that the market may finally be entering a consolidation phase.

Diverging Trends: Gangnam Declines While Northern and Southern Outskirts Maintain Momentum

A closer look at the district-level data reveals a noticeable divergence within the capital. All three districts of the traditionally affluent "Gangnam 3-gu" recorded price drops. Gangnam and Seocho districts experienced consecutive weekly declines for the 11th straight week. Notably, Seocho district saw its drop widen by 0.05 percentage points to -0.32%, while Gangnam district dipped by 0.31%. Songpa district also extended its downward trend to seven consecutive weeks with a 0.13% decline.

Conversely, northern and southwestern residential areas managed to sustain their upward momentum, albeit at a slightly moderated pace. Districts such as Seongbuk and Seodaemun (both up 0.36%), Dobong (0.33%), Jungrang (0.31%), and Gwanak (0.27%) continued to post gains.

Nam Hyuk-woo, a real estate researcher at Woori Bank, analyzed the current market dynamics, stating, "Overall, the magnitude of price increases is moderating, indicating that the market is taking a breather. Transactions have slowed down due to a combination of steep short-term price surges and increasingly stringent mortgage lending constraints."

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province saw its overall growth rate edge down slightly from 0.26% to 0.21%. However, southern satellite cities continued to demonstrate remarkable strength, led by Byeongjeom-gu in Hwaseong (0.65%), Dongtan-gu in Hwaseong (0.57%), and Dongan-gu in Anyang (0.56%). Experts suggest that as price overheating persists around semiconductor industry clusters in southern Gyeonggi—such as Suwon and its surrounding areas—housing demand is actively spilling over into adjacent sub-markets.

The Rental Crisis: Seoul One-Room Rents Breach 700,000 Won

While the sales market consolidates, the rental market is painting a far more alarming picture, fueling deep-seated residential anxieties.

Nationwide apartment jeonse (lump-sum deposit lease) prices increased by 0.11%, while Seoul saw a 0.16% rise. Seocho district in Seoul recorded a 0.10% drop—its tenth consecutive week of decline—heavily influenced by an influx of large-scale apartment complex move-ins. On the flip side, Gangnam district rebounded into positive territory with a 0.12% increase, ending an eight-week slump.

Monthly rent (wolse), however, is exhibiting an aggressive and worrisome surge. Data released by the proptech platform Dabang revealed that the average monthly rent for a Seoul tenement or multi-family studio apartment (one-room units with a dedicated floor area of 33 square meters or less) hit 710,000 won in September, based on a 10 million won security deposit. This represents a sharp increase of 35,000 won, or 5.2%, in just a single month.

Structural Shifts and Government Response

The rapid transition from traditional jeonse leases to monthly wolse payments has become a central focal point of public policy debate.

Addressing the phenomenon of the "wolse-fication of jeonse" via social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on the 21st, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Hong Ji-sun noted that the trend is not a sudden anomaly. Instead, she described it as a structural transformation within the rental market driven by the continuous rise in single-person households and the lingering psychological and financial fallout from past lease fraud scandals.

"The fundamental solution to these housing pressures is housing supply," Minister Hong emphasized. "The primary driver behind rising jeonse and wolse prices is the reduction in incoming move-in volumes, which stems directly from sluggish construction starts in the past."

As policymakers grapple with cooling sales metrics on one hand and escalating rental costs on the other, experts warn that targeted measures focusing on streamlining construction and stabilizing urban rental supplies will be critical to protecting vulnerable tenants and restoring equilibrium to Korea's metropolitan housing ecosystem.

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