Seoul metropolitan area still leads home price growth

SEJONG -- The growth in housing prices in the Seoul metropolitan area -- Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon -- continued to outpace that of the nationwide average as of last month, government data showed Friday.

According to the recent economic trends, published by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the average trading price of homes in the area of Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon climbed by 0.76 percent in November, compared to the previous month.

This outstripped a 0.63 percent increase across the nation and 0.51 percent in the other 14 major cities and provinces. The ministry cited figures held by the Korea Real Estate Board.

Of the total 17 major cities and provinces nationwide, Incheon topped the list with a 0.94 percent growth. The city’s Songdo-dong, where a free economic zone and international schools are located, was found to have initiated the increase.

Gyeonggi Province ranked second with 0.86 percent. Trading prices increase in the nation’s most populous region was led by cities including Siheung, Uiwang and Uijeongbu.

Though Seoul (0.55 percent) stayed under the nationwide average (0.63 percent), the pricey southern Seoul -- which involves Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu -- posted a 0.6 percent increase. Northern Seoul saw its home prices grow 0.51 percent.

The 0.76 percent growth in the Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon area also outpaced 0.49 percent, recorded a year earlier in November 2020.

For the first 11 months of 2021, the growth in the three regions reached 12.5 percent. This has already far surpassed a 6.5 percent growth over 12 months in the metropolitan area in 2020.

Earlier this month, senior government officials said that price growth “has recently slowed down” in some districts of Seoul, which appears to have referred to some parts of northern Seoul.

In contrast, the average trading price of a home in Gangnam-gu climbed by 3.2 percent from Oct. 1 to Dec. 10, according to data from KB Kookmin Bank and Naver.com.

Gangnam-gu’s Banpo-dong posted a record-high of 100.1 million won ($84,000) per pyeong (3.3 square meters) as of Dec. 10. This is the highest in the country.

As a noteworthy case, the price in Banpo-dong surged by 7.2 percent over the corresponding two-month period.

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