Transaction volume decreased from 5680 in January to 1450 in February
Buy sentiment weakened and the uptrend slowed
Experts “The indicator change is still insignificant”
A view of the apartment complex around the Han River in Seoul. /yunhap news
Kim Mo, 38, an office worker living in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, has a lot of trouble these days. Mr. Kim is about to move to an area with a short commute due to the distance between his company and his home as he recently resigned. However, the house I used to live in is not leaving. Hwa-geun was the first to buy a house to move to, believing only in the words of the brokerage that the sale was going well. Mr. Kim said, “I lowered the price little by little, but no one came to see the house for more than a month,” he said. “I am nervous as the moving date approaches.”
In the Seoul area, apartment transaction volumes have declined and house prices have slowed. This is because apartment prices have soared more than 50% in the last two to three years, and end-users perceived that “there is too much increase”. The government announced a plan to expand the supply of 320,000 households to Seoul, and movements such as raising the interest rate for loans are also the reason for turning to a wait-and-see tax. Some observers say that “the panic buying (panic buying), which led the market last year, has fallen.”
Seoul apartment deal cut a quarter
According to statistics on the Seoul Real Estate Information Plaza on the 3rd, the volume of apartment transactions in Seoul last month was 1458, only 25.7% of the previous month (5683). In addition, it is only 17.6% compared to the same period last year (8301 cases). Since home sales transactions must be reported within 30 days of the contract, the statistics for February will be confirmed at the end of March. However, when analyzing the trends so far, the prospect that the trading volume will not increase significantly is predominant.
The decline in trading volume is attributed to a decrease in purchase demand. Home buying sentiment soared to the highest level in history just before the announcement of the 2·4 real estate plan, but the atmosphere has been calming down recently. According to the Korea Real Estate Agency survey, last week (as of February 22), the apartment sales and demand index in Seoul was 109.8, down 0.8 points from the previous week (110.6). This index rose to 100.2 in the last week of last year, surpassing 100 to 100.2, and continued to rise for 10 consecutive weeks until the second week of this month, but from the end of last month, it has continued to decline.
Apartment prices have also risen slightly, but are slowing. As of February 1, just before the announcement of the second and fourth measures, the weekly increase in apartment prices in Seoul was 0.1%, but as of the 22nd, the increase rate was 0.08%.
Experts “Early To Discuss Policy Effects”
In the market, there is a prospect that the house price in Seoul has entered an adjustment phase. Jeong-mo, 41, who lives in an apartment in Seongdong-gu, who is entering her 30th year, is also anxious because the house is not sold. Mr. Jung said, “Because it was a single apartment building, the purchase inquiries were cut off after the government announced measures.” “I said that I would adjust the asking price and raise the benefits to the brokerage office, but I am worried that there is no change.”
Information about the property is posted at the office of a real estate agent in Seoul. /News 1
On-site brokerage officials said that the attention of landlords who said they would not sell below a certain price and those waiting to buy if the house price fell, was fierce. Oksu-dong, CEO of T brokerage office, said, “The landlords still expect the house price to rise further and they often throw the highest price higher than the existing actual transaction price, but there are reactions among buyers that it is’too expensive’. The sentiment to watch and see is strong,” he said.
In response to such changes in the market situation, the government interprets that “the effect of the second and fourth measures will appear.” Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Byun Chang-heum said at a policy meeting held on the 26th, “It is still too early to evaluate the effectiveness of the countermeasures, but the buying trend, which has been overheating in various indicators, is turning into a wait-and-forth overall.”
Experts pointed out that it is not enough to say that the effects of the 2·4 measures have begun to appear in this atmosphere. In particular, considering the government’s expectation of a market response by addressing the’supply shock’, it is said that the change in indicators is still only a slight level of change. It is interpreted that the recent fatigue caused by the surge in house prices and the fact that the interest rates of commercial banks’ credit and mortgage loans have turned upward may have had an effect.
Ji-young Yang, head of R&C R&C Research Institute, said, “(The decrease in transactions) is not the effect of the 2·4 measures, but the loan regulation is still in effect, and the house price has risen so far that a resistance line has been created. I can survive.”
Ahn Hye-won, Hankyung.com reporter [email protected]