Buyers in their 30s reached a record high in both the number and share of Seoul apartment purchases this year, surpassing even the figures from 2020-2021, the peak of "yeongkkeul" (borrowing to the fullest to invest) home buying.
Beyond apartments, buyers in their 20s and 30s account for more than 30% of the market for row houses and multi-family homes as well. As housing prices and jeonse (a Korean lease system requiring a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent) and monthly rents surge, the resulting increase in housing cost burdens has combined with the strong purchasing power of those in their 30s, adding upward pressure on home prices in the greater Seoul area.
According to the Korea Real Estate Board on Saturday, buyers in their 30s purchased 14,103 Seoul apartments in January-May this year, accounting for 40.9% of all transactions. Both the number and share are record highs since data collection began in 2019. The figure is about 24% higher than in 2020 (11,414 units), which had the highest transaction volume for the January-May period. The share of those in their 30s in the Seoul apartment purchase market soared to 45.9% in April this year, breaking the previous record of 40.2% set in January 2021.
The presence of those in their 30s in the property market is also spreading to Gyeonggi Province apartments and non-apartment properties in Seoul. Buyers in their 30s purchased 27,351 Gyeonggi Province apartments in January-May, a 52.9% surge from the same period a year earlier. Those in their 30s also played a major role in reviving transactions of Seoul non-apartment properties such as row houses and multi-family homes, which recovered to a volume in the 5,000 range for the first time in four years since May 2022 after a prolonged slump caused in part by jeonse fraud. During the same period, the share of Seoul non-apartment purchases by those in their 30s reached 24.6%, up 6 percentage points from a year earlier. Including those in their 20s, the share of buyers in their 20s and 30s exceeds 30%.
"Amid a shortage of housing supply, the government is trying to curb demand through measures such as lending restrictions, but the purchasing power of those in their 30s is even stronger, as their capital strength has grown through stock investments and performance bonuses and they actively use leverage such as financial loans," said Chae Sang-wook, CEO of Connected Ground. ▷Article on Page 5
