Seoul’s apartment boom is heating up again. Prices have jumped so much that the total value of apartments in the city shot up nearly 10% since the end of last year, fresh data reveals.
By the end of September, Seoul’s apartment market hit about 1,781 trillion won, or roughly $1.26 trillion. That’s a solid 9.3% increase from 1,630 trillion won at the close of 2024, according to real estate tracker Real Estate R114. The surge easily beat the national trend, where the overall South Korea housing market grew just 4.3% to 4,141 trillion won in the same period.
The government stepped in with tough measures to cool things down, like stricter lending rules announced on June 27 and plans to ramp up housing supply. Prices had been easing for weeks, but they’ve started climbing again since last month—especially in Seoul’s unregulated neighborhoods.
Beyond the capital, gains were more modest. In the central city of Sejong, apartment values rose 5.4% to 63.8 trillion won. Gyeonggi Province, which rings Seoul, saw a smaller 1.5% bump to around 1,179 trillion won.
Shifting gears to the markets, South Korea’s main stock index, the KOSPI, broke through the 3,500-point milestone for the first time Thursday. Investors cheered big news: OpenAI teaming up with chip powerhouses Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.
The Korean won also gained ground against the U.S. dollar. Trading was brisk, with 394.92 million shares changing hands for 18.57 trillion won ($13.25 billion). More stocks rose than fell—589 winners versus 291 losers.
Foreign buyers snapped up a net 3.14 trillion won in shares, while individual investors offloaded 3.07 trillion won and institutions sold 69 billion won. The buzz came from Samsung and SK hynix signing letters of intent on Wednesday to provide memory chips for OpenAI’s data centers, boosting hopes for South Korea’s semiconductor sector.
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