S. Korea’s top-priced apartment valued at W8.4b

Despite continued policy measures to steady the overheated real estate market, the overall prices of top-tier apartments are surging, government data showed Wednesday.

According to data compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, South Korea’s most expensive apartment as of last month was Hannam The Hill. One of the units of this premium apartment located in Hannam-dong, central Seoul, was valued at 8.4 billion won ($7 million) in January this year.

The corresponding data listed the country’s 20 most expensive apartments according to their actual transaction amount from 2016 to August 2019.

Of them, Hannam The Hill accounted for the top 11, with individual prices ranging from 6.3 billion won to 8.4 billion won. It was also ranked the most expensive apartment for the fourth consecutive year.

Next in line were IPark apartments in Samseong-dong, Galleria Foret in Seongsu-dong, Sangji Ritzville Caelum in Samseong-dong, and Hyosung Villa Cheongdam in Cheongdam-dong -- priced at 6.2 billion won, 5.7 billion won, 5.3 billion won and 53 billion won, respetively.

The latest transactions of Hannam The Hill apartment took place in November last year and January this year, with the price having little impact from the government’s comprehensive real estate actions.

The so-called Sept. 13 measures, introduced to keep down speculative buying in bubble-prone areas, mostly focused on enforcing tougher mortgage rules for borrowers.

“The government’s real estate regulations so far seem to have limited impact on premium apartments,” said Rep. Ahn Ho-young of the ruling Democratic Party, member of the parliamentary land committee.

“The price trend of the top-tier sector may have a domino effect on the market in general, so the government should step up its price-curbing measures.”

In an apparent move to advocate the government’s real estate policies, the Land Ministry said earlier this year that Seoul’s housing prices had grown at a stable rate for the past five years, compared to price fluctuations in other major cities.

Seoul saw an 18.9 percent rise in its average housing price fluctuation from 2014 to 2018, while London, Berlin, Sydney and Shaghai saw 39.6 percent, 63.1 percent, 54.8 percent and 52.5 percent increase, respectively.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)