Housing construction permits in Seoul surged nearly sevenfold from a year earlier in August, topping 11,000 units. Permits, a gauge of the scale and pace of future housing supply, are improving mainly in regulated areas such as Seoul.
Seoul issued permits for 11,306 units in August, up 604.4% from 1,605 units a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's August 2026 housing statistics released on the 30th. Apartment permits came to 10,537 units, up 938.1% from 1,015 units a year earlier. Cumulative permits for the January-August period reached 39,940 units, up 40.4% from 28,441 units in the same period last year.
In the greater Seoul area, permits totaled 15,470 units in August, up 105.6% from 7,523 units a year earlier. The cumulative figure through August was 96,056 units, up 5.4% from 91,165 units a year earlier.
Outside the greater Seoul area, permits fell 36.6% to 6,137 units in August from 9,680 units a year earlier. The cumulative figure through August was 67,879 units, down 15.8% from 80,646 units a year earlier.
Construction starts, which show homes actually being built, rose in Seoul to 1,172 units in August, up 14.6% from 1,023 units a year earlier. The cumulative figure for January-August was 20,679 units, up 41.1% from 14,654 units in the same period last year.
Starts in the greater Seoul area fell 1.7% to 8,845 units in August from 8,996 units a year earlier. The cumulative figure through August was 86,739 units, up 1.5% from 85,424 units a year earlier.
Unsold homes continued to rise nationwide. As of the end of August, unsold homes totaled 69,134 units, up 1.3% from 68,217 units a month earlier. Unsold homes in the greater Seoul area fell by 323 units from the previous month to 19,136 units, while the figure outside the greater Seoul area rose by 1,240 units to 49,998 units. Completed but unsold homes nationwide numbered 28,080 units, down 3.7% from 29,152 units a month earlier.
Home sales transactions declined nationwide in August, with the steepest drops in the greater Seoul area and Seoul. Total home sales came to 48,359 transactions, down 23.5% from 63,185 a month earlier. Lease transactions, covering jeonse (a lump-sum deposit lease) and monthly rent, totaled 199,204, down 5.6% from 210,985 a month earlier.
Home sales in the greater Seoul area totaled 25,740 transactions, down 25.9% from the previous month. Outside the greater Seoul area, sales came to 22,619 transactions, down 20.5% from 28,436 a month earlier. Apartment sales in Seoul fell 30.1% to 4,589 transactions from 6,564 a month earlier. The declines are attributed to the government's tax reform announcement and rising interest rates.
Lease transactions in the greater Seoul area fell 6.3% to 134,394 from 143,501 a month earlier, while those outside the greater Seoul area declined 4.0% to 64,810 from 67,484.
Final figures for last year's housing construction data showed nationwide completions of 300,000 units, 42,000 fewer than the preliminary estimate of 342,000 units. The gap stemmed from some duplicate counting, including temporary occupancy approvals, when the preliminary figures were compiled. The ministry said it has tallied completions based on the date of initial occupancy approval since the October data last year to prevent double counting and produce more accurate statistics.
