Presale prices for private apartments supplied in the Seoul metropolitan area this year rose 27.2% from a year earlier. In Seoul, the average presale price reached 59.05 million won per 3.3 square meters, up 66% over three years, nearing the 60 million won mark. However, as several high-priced complexes emerged this year along the Han River belt, including Dongjak and Seongdong districts, the presale price gap between the three Gangnam districts (Gangnam, Seocho and Songpa) and non-Gangnam areas narrowed to 19.95 million won per 3.3 square meters, down from 33.87 million won the previous year.
According to an analysis by real estate research firm Real Today of the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation's (HUG) private apartment presale price trend statistics released on the 9th, the average presale price for apartments in the Seoul metropolitan area stood at 36.56 million won per 3.3 square meters as of May this year. That marks a 27.2% increase from the same month last year. Nationwide, the figure rose 12.6% from 18.97 million won to 21.36 million won per 3.3 square meters. HUG's monthly average presale price refers to the average price of private presale projects that received presale guarantee certificates during the 12 months including the given month. It reflects trends over the past year rather than short-term fluctuations.
Looking at Seoul alone, the increase was even larger. According to an analysis by Ham Young-jin, head of Woori Bank's real estate research lab, of Real Estate R114 REPS data, the average presale price of Seoul apartments surged 36% from 35.53 million won in 2023 to 48.18 million won in 2024 per 3.3 square meters. The pace of increase then briefly slowed to 6% in 2025 before rising 15% again in 2026 to reach 59.05 million won. This amounts to roughly a 66% increase over three years.
Within Seoul, the temperature gap was clear along the Han River. The presale price gap per 3.3 square meters between the 11 districts south of the Han River and the 14 districts to the north widened from 1.94 million won in 2023 to 15.48 million won in 2024, and maintained a difference of 13.45 million won in 2026. This is attributed to the concentrated supply of high-priced presale complexes through reconstruction and redevelopment in areas south of the Han River, including the three Gangnam districts, Dongjak and Yeongdeungpo.
However, the gap between the three Gangnam districts and non-Gangnam areas has recently narrowed. The presale price per 3.3 square meters in the three Gangnam districts more than doubled from 35.98 million won in 2023 to 78.42 million won in 2026, but compared with 2025 (73.99 million won), it rose only 6%. In contrast, areas excluding the three Gangnam districts jumped 45.7% from 40.12 million won in 2025 to 58.47 million won in 2026. As a result, the gap between the two areas narrowed from 33.87 million won in 2025 to 19.95 million won in 2026.
Ham interprets this as the result of presale price ceilings pushing up presale prices in non-Gangnam areas more than in Gangnam. The presale price cap system limits presale prices to no more than the sum of land costs, standard construction costs and additional expenses, and currently applies only to the three Gangnam districts and Yongsan district. As complexes priced in the 70 million to 80 million won per 3.3 square meter range recently emerged one after another in Heukseok-dong and Noryangjin in Dongjak district, where the cap does not apply, the price gap between the two areas narrowed.
"It is not that the prices of Gangnam apartments have come down, but that high-priced presale complexes are emerging even in prime locations along the non-Gangnam Han River belt, so Seoul's high-priced presale zones are gradually expanding," Ham explained. He forecast that this trend of spreading high presale prices would be difficult to change for the time being. "The construction cost burden derived from high oil prices is not easily subsiding, and as Seoul sees continued new supply centered on redevelopment projects, apartment presale prices will remain at high levels within the year," Ham said. "As preference for good locations becomes clearer through trends such as the 'one solid home,' there is a high possibility that prices will differentiate around specific areas such as south versus north of the Han River, and the three Gangnam districts versus non-Gangnam areas."
