Apartment listings in Seoul have piled up to nearly 80,000. As multi-home owners face rising tax burdens from heavier capital gains taxes and surging officially assessed apartment prices, they have rushed to sell. However, buyer demand remains insufficient in the high-end Gangnam area, worsening the listing backlog.
According to data from Asil, a real estate big data platform, Seoul apartment listings stood at 75,959 on March 16 — the day before the government announced official apartment prices. Listings then grew by an average of 824 per day, reaching 80,080 on March 21 and crossing the 80,000 mark for the first time in nine months since June last year. The figure represents a 42.5% increase from the 56,075 listings recorded on January 2 this year.
By district, Gangnam led with 10,966 listings, up 7.54% over the same period, showing the largest increase. Seocho (7.44%), Yeongdeungpo (7.08%), Gangdong (6.97%) and Yongsan (6.69%) followed. Listings are accumulating rapidly in areas concentrated with high-priced apartments. An official at a real estate brokerage in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam, said, "Many listings are coming onto the market as the heavier capital gains tax on multi-home owners approaches." The official added, "In the three days after the official prices were announced, 10 people came in for consultations about property tax burdens."
A downward trend in actual transaction prices was also detected. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's real transaction price disclosure system, an 84-square-meter unit on the fourth floor of Raemian Daichi Palace in Daechi-dong, Gangnam, traded at 4.19 billion won on March 16. That is 560 million won below the highest price of 4.75 billion won recorded in a November transaction last year. On March 13, a 12th-floor unit traded at 4.15 billion won. A representative of a nearby brokerage said, "Right now, only distressed sales by multi-home owners are being transacted." The representative added, "Buyers want to pick up properties 500 million to 700 million won cheaper, so there is a standoff."
Over the two days of March 21–22, brisk trading of distressed listings brought total Seoul apartment listings down to 77,515. Transaction volumes varied by district. Districts including Gangbuk (-5.1%), Jungnang (-5.1%) and Eunpyeong (-5.01%) saw above-average declines, with listings absorbed relatively quickly. In contrast, the three Gangnam districts — Gangnam (-1.49%), Seocho (-2.17%) and Songpa (-2.51%) — as well as the Han River belt areas of Mapo (-2.34%), Yongsan (-2.21%) and Seongdong (-2.47%) saw comparatively slower absorption. Nam Hyuk-woo, a researcher at Woori Bank's Real Estate Research Institute, said, "The high-end apartment market is reacting to property tax issues, but insufficient buyer demand means the listing backlog is not being resolved."
