Sangin Prugio Center Park, a completed but unsold apartment complex in Daegu's Dalseo District, is drawing crowds after its units were offered as jeonse (a lump-sum deposit lease) rentals through a corporate restructuring real estate investment trust. Deposits run as much as 100 million won below those at older apartments nearby, and the complex is newly built — prompting people to pitch tents and wait two nights to secure a first-come, first-served lease.
More than 200 people were lined up by the time applications opened at 10 a.m. on the 8th, according to a sales official at the site. "People buying leases at these prices to actually live here drove the queue, which started forming on the afternoon of the 6th and grew to more than 200 by the 10 a.m. opening," said Kim Yu-gon, managing director at sales agency STHM.
Price is the draw. Jeonse deposits are set at 222 million to 260 million won for units of 84 square meters, and 300 million to 330 million won for 113- and 117-square-meter units. That is more than 100 million won below the going rate in Dalseo District, where deposits run about 300 million won for 84-square-meter units and 450 million won for 113-square-meter units. Tenants can obtain guarantee support from the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation, and leases run two years with the option to renew for up to four.
The 990-unit complex was completed in 2024, but not a single unit had been sold under a presale contract. It was absorbed into the CR REIT program, which the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport introduced to clear completed but unsold homes, and the entire inventory was offered as jeonse. CR REITs pool investor money to buy unsold completed apartments outside the Seoul area, operate them as rentals, and sell them once the market recovers. The vehicles were used in 2009 and 2014, then disappeared before being reintroduced in 2024. JB Asset Management manages this project.
In the first offering on June 17, about 420 of 549 units were leased, excluding the largest floor plans. Applications to select buildings and unit numbers for the second batch of 441 units opened on the 8th, with formal contracts starting on the 11th.
"At other CR REIT projects in Daegu, converting unsold inventory into REIT rentals has sparked disputes with existing buyers, but Sangin Prugio Center Park had no presale contracts at all, so the process went relatively smoothly," an industry official said.
Daegu carries the country's heaviest burden of completed unsold homes. Of 4,278 unsold apartments as of the end of July, 3,481 were completed but unsold — the type dubbed "toxic inventory" — the most among South Korea's 17 major administrative regions.
Experts say CR REITs have limits as a broad fix for unsold housing outside Seoul. "REITs exist to generate returns, so when they buy unsold apartments they have no choice but to pick quality assets that can deliver a certain level of profit, which leaves the rest of the inventory to be absorbed by the market," said Lee Eun-hyung, a research fellow at the Korea Research Institute for Construction Policy.
