Seoul apartments’ average selling price tops 1 billion won for first time

The average selling price of apartment units in Seoul has surpassed the psychologically important 1 billion won ($845,000) mark for the first time, almost doubling in seven years, according to data from a real estate services company on August 12.

The selling prices of around 1.7 million apartments in the South Korea capital city averaged 1,005 million won as of the end of July, according to Real Estate 114 Inc.

Seoul apartment prices have continued to rise in the past seven years since hitting the average price of 517.5 million won in 2013.

The data was compiled based on the transaction prices in July, estimates from real estate agents and its own research.

By district, the average selling price of apartments in the wealthy Gangnam neighborhood came to 2.02 billion won, exceeding the 2 billion won mark for the first time. The two other affluent districts of Seocho and Songpa saw their apartment prices averaging 1.95 billion won and 1.48 billion won, respectively.

The three districts in southern Seoul, or south of the Han River, topped the list of the selling prices among the 25 administrative districts in the city.

“Apartment prices have been rising not only in the three Gangnam districts but also in other districts, with the price increases spreading out across Seoul,” said Real Estate 114 analyst Yoon Ji-hye.

Housing price volatility for Seoul apartments reached 0.96% in July, marking the highest monthly increase since the 1.08% posted in December 2019.

Last month, residential house prices in South Korea posted the biggest monthly gain in almost 10 years, up 0.61% after foreign investors joined the buying spree. Foreigners snapped up 1.25 trillion won worth of apartment units in the country between January and May of this year.

Write to Yeon-su Shin at sys@hankyung.com