"Sixty to seventy percent of Eunma apartment residents are tenants. Their middle school children need to stay in this area for a few more years, and once the relocation begins in earnest, there will be nowhere for them to go — it's going to be a real headache."
Concerns over a mass displacement crisis are mounting among tenants of Eunma apartment in Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu — one of Seoul's most sought-after school districts — as the complex's reconstruction association targets the first half of 2027 for residents to vacate. Nearby jeonse listings have all but vanished and asking prices have surged sharply.
Real estate agents near Eunma apartment, visited Monday afternoon, said a wave of residential refugees could soon be unleashed. With tenants required to find alternative housing ahead of the demolition-driven relocation, agents say there is simply nowhere for them to go.
The head of nearby Agency A said some landlords were leaving units vacant rather than signing new leases, fearing it would become difficult to remove tenants later. "There were also tenants who had already started looking for other places early, worried the jeonse crunch would only get worse," the agent added.
The reconstruction association of Eunma apartment — a large complex of 4,424 units — recently launched a survey of tenants' preferred relocation timing and destination areas, targeting the first half of 2027 for the move-out process to begin. But because more than half of the units are occupied by tenants rather than owners, landlords will ultimately have to ask their tenants to leave.
Compounding the problem, the government's push to strengthen owner-occupancy requirements is accelerating the housing emergency for tenants. The head of Agency B in Daechi-dong said the jeonse and monthly rent market in the neighborhood was already in serious trouble. "More than 50 percent of landlords who normally rented out their units have called to say they are considering or have decided to move in themselves, in response to government policies targeting non-resident owners," the agent added.
Tenants currently living in Eunma apartment have few options. Nearby jeonse listings are scarce, and prices at comparable properties are far out of reach. The head of Agency D, which handles listings at the adjacent Raemian Daechi Palace complex, said even monthly rents there run 2 million won ($1,450), a burden too heavy for tenants who have been holding on for the sake of their children's education. "If they can't give up the school district, they will have no choice but to look at the villa units across from the hagwon strip," the agent said.
Row houses and multi-family units offer little relief. The head of Agency E, near the hagwon district in Daechi-dong, said jeonse listings in multi-family buildings were essentially nonexistent. "What's available is monthly rent, and those prices have risen 300,000 to 400,000 won compared to earlier this year," the agent said.
Units large enough for a family of four are particularly scarce. "There have been some inquiries, but there are virtually no sizable listings available — the supply is nowhere near enough to absorb demand from Eunma apartment," the Agency E head added.
While most people move to Eunma apartment specifically for the school district, a growing number of households are giving up on entering Daechi-dong altogether. "Most of the tenants in this neighborhood came here for their children's schooling, and it will only get harder for new households to move in going forward," Agency A's head said.
Experts say an urgent, practical solution to the jeonse price surge is needed. Seo Jin-hyung, a professor in the real estate law department at Kwangwoon University, said the real estate market is inherently local in character, making it difficult for residents to relocate far away — and that the problem would be especially acute in Daechi-dong. "A large-scale relocation without any countermeasures will trigger a sharp spike in the local jeonse market," he said.
Seo added that as long as the one-household, one-home policy continues to restrict jeonse supply, tenants will have no choice but to fend for themselves.
shy@heraldcorp.com
hss@heraldcorp.com
