The number of villa auctions in Seoul in April showed the highest in 18 years, according to Gmarket. In April, there were 1,456 villa auction cases in Seoul, the highest monthly number since May 2006. The increase in villa auctions in Seoul, which began at the end of 2022, has been steadily rising, surpassing 1,000 cases since October last year and exceeding 1,000 cases for seven consecutive months.
The increase in auctions is attributed to a combination of high interest rates, economic downturn, overlap of reverse mortgages and lease scams, leading to a situation where landlords cannot return deposits to tenants or repay loans.
Looking at last month’s auction cases by region, Gangseo-gu, the area with dense villas and the highest occurrence of lease scams, had the most cases at 536, followed by Yangcheon-gu with 144 cases and Guro-gu with 113 cases.