Seoul housing prices show signs of rising, spreading to Seongbuk, Nowon, and Geumcheon… Movement before DSR stage 3

The upward trend in apartment prices in Seoul’s three Gangnam districts and Yongsan, which have been designated as areas requiring land transaction permits, is showing signs of spreading to other areas like Seongbuk-gu, Nowon-gu, and Geumcheon-gu. Real estate platform Zigbang reported that last month, the proportion of apartment transactions at higher prices than before in Seongbuk-gu increased by 4.6 percentage points to 46.8% compared to the previous month. The proportion of upward transactions in Nowon-gu and Geumcheon-gu also increased by 4.5 percentage points and 1.6 percentage points respectively, far surpassing the 0.6 percentage point increase in the overall upward transaction rate for Seoul last month. Furthermore, all three districts—Seongbuk, Nowon, and Geumcheon—have seen a significant increase in the number of transactions recently, with some recording highest-price transactions. Experts believe that the price changes in these districts are due to actual demand rather than speculation, and that buyers are making purchases based on available loans ahead of the implementation of the third stage of the Debt Service Ratio (DSR) next month.