Apartment prices in Dongtan, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, are extending a steep rally, reshaping the property market landscape in southern Gyeonggi. With the opening of the Great Train Express (GTX)-A line, an upturn in the semiconductor industry, and the effect of performance bonuses all converging, the center of gravity in southern Gyeonggi's housing market—once led by Pangyo and Gwanggyo—is shifting toward Dongtan.
According to the "Weekly Apartment Price Trends" report for the second week of June (as of June 8) released by the Korea Real Estate Board on Thursday, Dongtan recorded a 1.98% gain, more than triple the previous week's 0.60%. Following an administrative district reorganization, weekly surveys of Dongtan have been conducted since the second week of February, and its cumulative four-month gain of 7.19% is among the highest in the country.
Changes in actual transaction prices are also clear. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's real transaction price disclosure system, an 84-square-meter unit (exclusive area) at "Dongtan Station Lotte Castle" in the Dongtan 2 New Town traded for 2.08 billion won last month. Compared with the February transaction price of 1.88 billion won, that marks a 200 million won increase in three months.
Dongtan is the fourth area in Gyeonggi Province where the standard "national-size" apartment has surpassed 2 billion won, following Gwacheon, Seongnam's Bundang, and Sujeong. As the flagship complex pushed the price ceiling higher, nearby pilot complexes have set successive record-high prices one after another. According to local brokerages, asking prices around Dongtan Station have jumped 300 million to 400 million won in just one month.
Transaction volume is rising while listings are shrinking. Apartment sales in Dongtan totaled 1,179 last month, up 134.4% from the same month a year earlier, while listings fell 42.6% from 6,501 in early March to 3,733 in early this month. The trend is solidifying into a seller's market.
The recent price gains are largely attributed to Dongtan being a nearby residential area within commuting distance for workers at semiconductor sites such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix—which are posting record-level profits—while not being tied up as a regulated zone such as an adjustment target area or land transaction permit zone. On top of this, not only gap investment by outsiders but also local end-user demand using mortgage loans are entering the housing market all at once, according to local real estate industry sources.
Experts say upward pressure in southern Gyeonggi, the semiconductor commuting belt, could continue for some time, while also pointing to the risk of a short-term spike. Their analysis is that if Dongtan, currently an unregulated area, is additionally designated as a regulated zone, there could be a price correction or contraction in transactions, making it necessary to watch for policy changes.
