Apartment prices in Seoul show signs of stabilizing: finance minister

Apartment prices in Seoul have shown signs of stabilizing since the government unveiled a set of measures to cool prices and supply more homes, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday.

Hong also vowed to take stern measures against speculative home transactions, saying that the government found a total 811 home transactions that might have violated laws.

This month, apartment prices in Seoul largely remained flat, Hong said, citing data released by KB Kookmin Bank.

Apartment prices in Seoul rose 0.02 percent in the third week of August, compared with an increase of 0.02 percent in the second week of the month and a gain of 0.04 percent in the first week of the month, according to the data.

The government will refer the 811 suspected cases to police, financial regulators and tax authorities for further investigation, Hong said.

Since last Friday, the government has implemented a strict law that bans real estate brokers from posting fake home prices online.

In the wake of the strict law, the number of homes for sale has fallen by some 30 percent so far, Hong said. (Yonhap)