The KOSPI's market capitalization has caught up with the combined value of apartments nationwide. The combined market cap of the KOSPI and KOSDAQ has already surpassed the total value of apartments across the country, and the KOSPI alone is now approaching the size of the national apartment market. The shift comes as the real estate market has slowed under lending restrictions and weaker transactions, while a rally in semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI), combined with a broader money move, has rapidly expanded the stock market. As President Lee Jae-myung has emphasized, the flow of property funds into equities is expected to accelerate.
According to the Korea Exchange on Wednesday, the KOSPI closed at 7,498, up 7.95 points, or 0.11%, from the previous day, marking a record high. The KOSPI's market cap stood at 6,143 trillion won, while the KOSDAQ's reached 672 trillion won, bringing the combined market cap of the two bourses to 6,815 trillion won.
The combined market cap of Korea's stock markets, which stood at around 4,000 trillion won on January 2, broke through 5,000 trillion won on February 11 and then crossed the 6,000 trillion won mark on April 27. Growing roughly 70% in just over four months, it is now approaching the 7,000 trillion won threshold. Goldman Sachs on Wednesday raised its KOSPI target to 9,000 and rated Korea as the "most preferred market in Asia," fueling further expectations of gains. By simple calculation, that implies the KOSPI's market cap could expand by more than another 20% from current levels.
The apartment market, by contrast, grew only modestly, allowing stocks to overtake it. According to property platform Indexer Go, the nationwide apartment market cap rose just 2.01% from 6,067 trillion won in the fourth quarter of last year to 6,189 trillion won in the first quarter of this year. Seoul's apartment market cap also rose 2.32% over the same period, from 2,241 trillion won to 2,293 trillion won. The slowdown reflects successive government moves to tighten lending rules in June and October last year, along with an increase in listings from multi-home owners.
The gap was also evident in actual price movements. In the first quarter, the average apartment sale price nationwide rose 1.48%, while prices climbed 1.82% in the greater Seoul area and 1.76% in Seoul. The stock market, meanwhile, saw its rally extend on the back of major semiconductor stocks, with the KOSPI gaining 19.89% during the first quarter. The KOSPI's rise was more than 13 times the pace of apartment price growth nationwide.
The market caps of major conglomerates have also grown to rival the size of key property markets. The Samsung Group's market cap reached 2,004 trillion won, close to the total value of Seoul apartments, and climbs to 3,469 trillion won when combined with the SK Group. The combined market cap of Korea's top 10 conglomerates came to 4,732 trillion won, exceeding the 4,379 trillion won market cap of apartments in the greater Seoul area as of the third quarter of last year.
A similar pattern, in which Korea's stock market rapidly closed in on the size of the property market, emerged in 2021 amid the pandemic-era liquidity boom. At that time, the stock market's market cap also ballooned, but the domestic housing market expanded even faster, keeping equities at around half its size.
