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First-time home purchases in Seoul hit five-year high as middle-aged buyers join younger adults
🇰🇷 South Korea /Economy & Trade

First-time home purchases in Seoul hit five-year high as middle-aged buyers join younger adults

From Dong-A Ilbo · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Documents & data Context piece
  • First-time purchases of apartments, officetels and villas in Seoul reached 8,404 last month, the highest level since May 2021.
  • Buyers in their 20s and 30s accounted for more than 60% of purchases, while buyers in their 40s and 50s exceeded 2,000 for the first time this year.
  • Rising home prices and high rents may be prompting more people without homes to buy, according to a housing-market analyst.

Seoul’s first-time home purchases have reached their highest level in five years and three months, as younger buyers continue to lead the market and middle-aged households join them.

The city recorded 8,404 first purchases of collective housing last month, including apartments, officetels and villas, according to the court registry information system. The figure was the highest since 9,304 purchases in May 2021. It rose from 7,210 in June and 8,004 in July, and stood 1,850 above January’s total of 6,554.

As home prices rise while jeonse prices remain high, housing anxiety among people without homes is growing.

— Song Seung-hyunHe described the pressure facing prospective first-time buyers in Seoul.

People in their 20s and 30s accounted for more than 60% of the purchases. Buyers in their 30s made 4,375 purchases, or 52.1% of the total, while those in their 20s made 761, or 9.1%.

Demand also expanded among older first-time buyers. Purchases by people in their 40s and 50s reached 2,159, surpassing 2,000 for the first time this year and representing 25.6% of the total. Buyers in their 50s alone recorded 721 purchases, also a first for the year at the 700 level.

The burden of housing costs and anxiety over rising home prices are spreading beyond any particular age group.

— Song Seung-hyunHe said housing concerns now affect both younger and middle-aged buyers.

Unlike replacement purchases by existing homeowners, first-time purchases bring new buyers into the housing market. The article links the wider demand to rising Seoul home prices and high rents. KB Real Estate data put the average Seoul apartment deposit lease at 711.78 million won in August, above 700 million won for a second consecutive month and the highest since records began in 2011.

Song Seung-hyun, head of Urban and Economy, said housing anxiety was spreading across age groups. He added that first-time buyers could continue switching from rental housing unless the monthly and deposit-lease markets stabilize.

If the monthly-rent and jeonse markets do not stabilize, the shift by real-demand buyers toward purchases could continue for the time being.

— Song Seung-hyunHe assessed the likely persistence of first-time buying demand.
About this summary

Originally published by Dong-A Ilbo in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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