The pre-sale price of Seoul apartments reached 59.05 million won ($39,100) per 3.3 square meters this year, jumping 15 percent from a year earlier. High-priced projects in key non-Gangnam districts — including Dongjak-gu, Seongdong-gu and Yongsan-gu — have driven up the citywide average. The price gap between areas south and north of the Han River stood at 13.45 million won per 3.3 square meters, while the gap between the three Gangnam districts and the rest of Seoul reached 19.95 million won.
Ham Young-jin, head of Woori Bank's Real Estate Research Lab, released an analysis Thursday of the Residential Statistics Analysis System run by real estate data firm R114, showing that Seoul's pre-sale price per 3.3 square meters has risen 66.2 percent from 2023 through this year as of Wednesday. By year, the figures were: 35.53 million won in 2023, 48.18 million won in 2024, 51.31 million won in 2025 and 59.05 million won in 2026.
Rising construction and labor costs driven by high oil prices, along with higher land costs, have pushed up pre-sale prices, with the Han River belt area seeing particularly rapid increases.
Regional disparities within Seoul are also widening. Looking at the Han River as a dividing line, the price gap between areas south and north of the river was just 1.94 million won per 3.3 square meters in 2023, but widened sharply to 15.48 million won in 2024. It narrowed to 8.77 million won in 2025 before expanding again to 13.45 million won this year.
"The concentration of high-priced pre-sale projects through reconstruction and redevelopment in areas south of the Han River — including the three Gangnam districts as well as Dongjak-gu and Yeongdeungpo-gu — had a significant impact," Ham said. "North of the Han River also has Han River belt districts such as Yongsan-gu, Seongdong-gu and Mapo-gu that drive up pre-sale prices, but the wide gap with outer Seoul districts means the upward pull on the average is weaker than on the south side."
Paradoxically, the surge in pre-sale prices in key non-Gangnam areas has narrowed the price gap between the three Gangnam districts and the rest of Seoul.
Among districts south of the Han River, Dongjak-gu posted the highest pre-sale price at 78.44 million won per 3.3 square meters, edging out Seocho-gu at 78.42 million won. Unlike Seocho-gu, which is subject to the price ceiling on new apartments, Dongjak-gu falls outside that regulation — a key reason for the price reversal.
As a result, the pre-sale price gap between the three Gangnam districts and the rest of Seoul has narrowed this year to 19.95 million won per 3.3 square meters, down from last year. The gap had been just 460,000 won in 2023, before surging to 21.96 million won in 2024 and widening further to 33.87 million won in 2025.
"It is not that Gangnam prices have come down — rather, high-priced projects have been appearing one after another in non-Gangnam core areas such as Dongjak-gu, Seongdong-gu and Yongsan-gu, gradually expanding Seoul's high-price pre-sale zone," Ham said. "The pre-sale price map of Seoul is spreading outward from a Gangnam-centered pattern to key Han River belt locations nearby."
lucky@heraldcorp.com
