Much of the increase takes place in expensive neighborhoods in southern districts
The number of transactions involving Seoul apartments worth at least 2.6 billion won ($1.88 million) from January to July has more than doubled compared to the same period last year, data from a local real estate research firm showed Sunday.
There were 3,424 sales of apartment units above this threshold in the first half of 2025, compared to just 1,467 in the first half of 2024, according to the data by Real Today.
About 73.8 percent of the transactions involving apartments worth 2.6 billion won or more were focused on the affluent southern districts commonly referred to as Gangnam — Gangnam-gu, Seocho-gu, and Songpa-gu. Gangnam-gu led with 1,105 while Seocho-gu followed with 862 and Songpa-gu with 561.
The combined market prices of apartments in the three Gangnam districts were found to make up about 43 percent of the value of all apartments in the nation’s capital, another report by another real estate data analysis firm showed earlier this month.
In contrast, not a single sale of these high-priced apartments were made in the Nowon-gu, Dobong-gu, Gangbuk-gu, Geumcheon-gu, Gwanak-gu, and Guro-gu, administrative districts that have generally lower housing prices.
The provisional data in the report showed that a total of 40,556 apartment units were sold in the first half of 2025, up 52.5 percent from 26,593 in the first half of last year.
Hot commodities
Sunday’s report showed that average market price for a Seoul apartment was about 1.3 billion won in the first half, up from 1.16 billion won in the same period last year. Despite the relative slump in the real estate market across the country, both the sales and prices of the high-end apartments in Seoul have actually soared compared to before.
While not as prominent as the high-end apartments, transactions of lower-priced units have generally increased in the city. The increase ranged from a 24.1 percent rise in transactions of apartments priced under 600 million won, to an 83.6 percent increase in those costing between 1.6 billion and 2.6 billion won.
Lee Jae-myung administration last month rolled out series of measures to regulate the soaring home prices in Seoul, centering on stricter mortgage rules that put a cap on home-backed loans at 600 million won.
But officials from Real Today speculated that high-end apartments are expected to be in the high demand for the time being, pointing out that most transactions are made among those with spare funding.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
