Average Korean House Price: 97.5M Won

On the basis of officially posted prices, the aggregated house price in Korea amounts to 1.269 quadrillion won, 1.57 times higher than last year’s nominal GDP and 1.66 times higher than the current equity market capitalization. The average price of a house stood at 97.54 million won.

The Ministry of Construction and Transportation said on April 28 that the total price of 8.71 million communal houses including 6.88 million apartments, 450,000 row houses, and 1.38 million tenement houses, was 962 trillion won according to prices posted on New Year’s Day this year.

A ministry official said, “Given price hikes in some Seoul Gangnam areas and new towns around the metropolitan area, the aggregated price for communal houses may go up to over a quadrillion won next year.”

The total price of 4.3 million single household houses stood at 307 trillion won making the combined prices of 13.01 million communal and single household houses 1.269 quadrillion won. Considering that posted prices accounts for roughly 80 percent of the real market prices, the actual house price is estimated at 1.586 quadrillion won.

Joong-Hyun Park sanjuck@donga.com