Apartment prices in Songdo, which had been mired in a prolonged slump, have turned around to set a string of record highs. The shift is attributed to homebuying demand migrating to the area amid its advantage as a non-regulated zone, combined with the rental crunch in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's (MOLIT) real transaction price disclosure system on Tuesday, the 84-square-meter unit (based on exclusive floor area, hereafter the same) at "Songdo Xi The Star" in Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, traded at 1.03 billion won on May 27, setting a record high.
It was the first time the new complex, completed in December 2024, surpassed the 1 billion won mark. Compared with a transaction in the mid-800 million won range in May last year, the price rose about 200 million won in a year.
A transaction in the 5 billion won range emerged at "The Sharp Central Park 2," Songdo's flagship complex. A 291-square-meter penthouse signed a sales contract at 5.95 billion won on May 25. Compared with the previous sale price of 4.4 billion won in July 2024, the price jumped 1.55 billion won in two years. Nearby, the 59-square-meter unit at "Songdo The Sharp Park Avenue" traded at a record high of 950 million won on the 3rd of this month, putting it on the verge of breaking through the 1 billion won mark.
Until now, Songdo had struggled to rebound. With weakened buying sentiment compounded by oversupply, some complexes saw listings at half their peak prices, and even newly completed buildings that had begun move-ins saw listings below their original sale prices. For example, the 84-square-meter unit at "The Sharp Songdo Marina Bay," which traded at 1.245 billion won in February 2022, was cut in half to the 500 million won range last year.
On top of this, the delayed groundbreaking of the much-anticipated Great Train Express (GTX)-B line increased disappointment-driven listings. Songdo home prices have also been more sensitive to Seoul real estate policy than to move-in volumes or interest rates. Prices repeatedly rose when Seoul regulations tightened and fell when they eased.
Behind the changed mood are easing supply pressure and a recovery in the jeonse (a Korean lease system requiring a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent) market. As large-scale move-ins wrapped up in 2024 and 2025, the trend shifted toward declining supply from 2026 onward, and jeonse prices gradually recovered as new move-in volumes decreased.
As the jeonse-to-sale-price ratio at some complexes began to exceed 50%, the gap with sale prices narrowed, reviving demand to switch to purchasing. Some say the jeonse market recovery could be faster than in other areas, given steady demand from school district seekers and foreign renters.
In addition, the location's exemption from regulation has drawn demand. Songdo's record highs are interpreted as the result of continued homebuying demand in an area that avoided the regulations of the Oct. 15 real estate measures implemented last year.
In particular, with Chadwick International School Songdo and the Dalton foreign school, along with established living infrastructure, education-related demand centered on Gangnam-area parents continues to flow in. As Songdo leads the upward trend, the rate of increase in Yeonsu-gu apartment prices has also been widening for a month.
Transaction volume has also increased. Last month, apartment transactions in Songdo-dong totaled 331, about 20% more than the 276 in January this year. Considering that the deadline for reporting May real transactions runs through the end of this month, the rate of increase is expected to grow further.
The subscription market has also heated up. The subscription for "The Sharp Songdo Grand Terre," held on May 20, drew 18,288 applicants for 1,036 units, recording an average competition ratio of 16.65 to 1. With attention focused on it being the last sales complex in the Songdo International Business District (IBD), the highest competition ratio by unit type reached 306 to 1.
