Apartment Price Highest in Seoul, Lowest in South Jeolla Province

According to a survey, Seoul recorded the highest average apartment sale price to the allottee while South Jeolla Province recorded the lowest last year.

Real Estate 114, which provides real estate information, reported yesterday that it surveyed 210,000 apartments across the nation to find out average apartment prices per p`yŏng (=3.9544 sq. yds.) by region. The survey found that Seoul recorded the highest price of 8,397,600 won on average.

Meanwhile, South Jeolla Province has an average price of 1,888,400 won, about 22% of Seoul`s price.

Busan and Incheon recorded 5,181,200 won and 4,736,800 won respectively following Seoul.

Then, Gyeonggi Province, Daejeon, Daegu, Gangweon Province, South Gyeongsang Province, Ulsan have average sale prices of around 4 million won, while South and North Chungcheong Provinces, Gwangju, Jeju, North Gyeongsang Province and North Jeolla Province have around 3 million won.

As the apartment initial sale prices are rising in general, apartments in Seoul have showed remarkable upward tendency, surpassing the 8 million mark for the first time. Last year, apartment prices right after the construction in Seoul rose 16.6 percent from the previous year.

By district, Gangnam district has the highest price of 15,371,700 won, followed by Yongsan district (13,601,400 won), Seocho district (13,277,600 won), Songpa district (11,467,100 won) and Gwangjin district (11,440,200 won).

Meanwhile, apartment prices in Jungrang district (5,571,600 won), Geumcheon district (5,681,500 won), and Donbong district (5,971,700 won) remained flat.

By size, the prices of small- and medium- apartments like 20 to 30 p`yŏng ones rose by 20 percent, higher compared with other size apartments. By time, apartment prices increase the most within 6 months of moving in.

Ji-Wan Cha maruduk@donga.com