The proportion of apartment transactions in housing deals reached a record high of 77%. In Seoul, it was 62%, while Daegu and Gwangju reported rates in the 90% range.
Last year, apartments accounted for 76.6% of all housing sales, setting a record high. This increase is attributed to the shrinking non-apartment market, such as villas, due to the aftermath of reverse leasing and rental fraud.
According to the ‘Housing Transaction Status by Type’ by the Korea Real Estate Agency, out of 642,576 housing sales nationwide last year, 492,052 were apartment deals, accounting for 76.6%. This is the highest figure since the agency started compiling related statistics in 2006.
Following apartments, the sales by housing type were: multi-family homes at 75,943 transactions (11.8%), single-family homes (7.5%), row houses (2.9%), and multi-household homes (1.2%).
While the proportion of apartment sales in housing transactions fluctuated between the mid-60s and early 70s, it surged to 73.0% during the housing price boom in 2020. It then declined to 65.9% in 2021 and fell to 58.7% during the severe real estate market downturn in 2022.
In 2023, due to the reverse leasing and rental fraud crisis, the number of villa transactions (multi-household, multi-family, row houses) plummeted by 34%, from 142,000 units the previous year to 93,000 units, increasing the apartment transaction proportion back to 74.2%.
Last year, villa transactions rose to 204,000 units, returning to pre-rental fraud crisis levels (241,000 units in 2021), but apartment transactions also increased by 19.5% from the previous year, marking a record high for apartment transaction proportion.
Interestingly, the proportion of apartment transactions in regional housing deals was much higher than in Seoul. Although the apartment proportion in Seoul’s housing transactions (62.4%) hit a record high last year, numerous regions exceeded a 90% ratio.
In Daegu, 90.5% of the 27,663 housing transactions were apartments (25,027 transactions), and Gwangju saw 90.5% of 18,497 transactions as apartments (16,740 transactions). In Sejong, apartments accounted for 96.3% of housing transactions. Ulsan (89.5%), Daejeon (82.5%), South Gyeongsang (81.9%), and Busan (81.3%) also saw apartment transaction ratios exceeding 80%.
Essentially, there were almost no non-apartment housing transactions.
Experts predict the ‘preference phenomenon’ for apartment sales may intensify, driven by the MZ generation, the main market participants who prefer apartments.
An industry official stated, “In an era of population decline, liquidity and cashability are increasingly important. No matter how good a house is, it’s meaningless if it doesn’t sell, thus strengthening the preference for apartments.”