Home prices stabilize in some Seoul districts: minister

SEJONG -- Deputy prime minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday that home prices in some districts of Seoul and others nationwide have stabilized.

During a meeting with real estate-related ministers, Hong said prices of some apartments in Seoul have “stabilized to the level before entering a possible downhill phase.” His remarks indicate that some districts of the capital might be seeing a plateau or slowdown in prices.

He said the trend of stabilization has been attained on the back of measures such as the planned housing supply, hikes in the benchmark interest rate and bolstering of supervision over household debt.

The Finance Ministry supported Hong’s remarks by suggesting the recent slack growth in home prices. Seoul saw the price increase stay at 0.11 percent in the fourth week of November, compared to the previous week, and 0.1 percent in the fifth week of November, the ministry said.

Among the districts, which posted no change or meager advances in prices as of the fifth week of November, were Gangbuk-gu at 0 percent, Gwanak-gu at 0.01 percent, Gwangjin-gu at 0.03 percent and Geumcheon-gu at 0.04 percent, according to the ministry.

The weekly price growth has also slowed down in the Gyeonggi Province-Incheon area, from 0.18 percent in the fourth week to 0.16 percent in the fifth week, and other provincial areas, from 0.16 percent to 0.13 percent, it added.

Hong said that “(as for outside the Seoul metropolitan area), the number of areas posting falling trade prices is increasing, which include Sejong and Daegu.”

The Finance Ministry data showed that home prices in Sejong declined by 0.26 percent in the fifth week of November, 0.03 percent in Daegu, 0.18 percent in North Jeolla Province’s Gimje and North Gyeongsang Province’s Yeongju.

During the ministerial meeting, Hong said the government is set to designate 25 candidate sites in Seoul this month, where about 26,000 housing units will be built “via redevelopment” of the land.

This is the first round of a fast tracked redevelopment project in Seoul, which was jointly initiated by the Land Ministry and Seoul City. The government has been assessing a variety of potential plots since October to finalize the list down to 25.

Additionally, the government plans to attract more potential sites for “the second round of fast track-based supply project by the end of the year,” Hong said.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)