Villas and other low-rise residential buildings seen from Seoul Sky at Lotte World Tower in Songpa-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap]
Villas and other low-rise residential buildings seen from Seoul Sky at Lotte World Tower in Songpa-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap]

Seoul apartment sale prices posted one of the sharpest monthly gains of the year in July. Row-house properties — a category that includes villas — also recorded their steepest rise in nine months.

According to the Korea Real Estate Board's July nationwide housing price survey released Tuesday, the average sale price of all housing types in Seoul — covering apartments, row houses and detached homes — rose 1.09 percent from the previous month, the largest monthly gain of the year.

Apartment prices in Seoul climbed even faster, rising 1.27 percent in July, while row houses, including villas, gained 0.96 percent — their highest monthly increase since October last year.

Demand for row houses has been surging as sale prices climb and jeonse supply dries up. One office worker, identified only by her surname A, said her family needs a place of at least 82 to 116 square meters. "I plan to buy an older villa in Dongjak-gu and renovate it," she said.

The broad-based pressure has pushed prices higher across all housing types in Seoul's real estate market.

A Korea Real Estate Board official said demand is concentrating in high-preference neighborhoods centered on Seoul and the greater metropolitan area, with some areas showing a wait-and-see mood that has created mixed signals, though the overall upward trend continues. "Sales activity is locally cautious in places, but price-rising transactions are occurring in areas with development expectations and in transit-oriented neighborhoods and large complexes with steady demand, pushing the national figure higher than the previous month," the official said.

Breaking down the figures by district, outer Seoul neighborhoods led the city's gains. Seongbuk-gu posted the sharpest rise at 1.73 percent, driven by major complexes in Hawolgok and Gireum-dong. Nowon-gu rose 1.64 percent, led by Sanggye and Junggye-dong where development expectations are high, while Jungnang-gu gained 1.35 percent on the back of large complexes in Sinnae and Myeongmok-dong.

Elsewhere, Guro-gu rose 1.33 percent, driven by transit-oriented areas in Gaebong and Guro-dong; Gangdong-gu gained 1.29 percent, led by Amsa and Cheonho-dong; and Seodaemun-gu climbed 1.26 percent, centered on Hongjae and Bukgajwa-dong.

In Gyeonggi Province, prices rose 0.65 percent, with gains concentrated in Hwaseong's Dongtan, Suwon's Yeongtong and Yongin's Giheung.

Meanwhile, jeonse prices in Seoul rose 1.03 percent in July, easing slightly from the previous month's 1.08 percent but remaining above the 1 percent mark. By district, Nowon-gu recorded the largest increase at 1.69 percent, driven by transit-oriented areas in Sanggye and Junggye-dong. Gangdong-gu, home to a concentration of large apartment complexes, rose 1.53 percent on the strength of major complexes in Myeongil and Amsa-dong, while Seongbuk-gu gained 1.48 percent, led by large complexes in Gireum and Donam-dong.

In Gyeonggi Province, jeonse prices rose 0.55 percent, with Gwangmyeong, Hwaseong's Dongtan and Yongin's Giheung leading the gains.


hss@heraldcorp.com