Seoul residents buying homes in Gyeonggi Province hit 4-year high as city prices soar

As Seoul home prices climb steeply and mortgage lending regulations tighten, more Seoul residents are venturing into Gyeonggi Province to buy property. The areas drawing the most buyers are cities bordering Seoul with strong transit links — Guri, Gwangmyeong, Gunpo and Anyang.

Seoul residents filed 22,634 ownership transfer registrations for collective buildings in Gyeonggi Province in the first half of this year, up 6,142 cases, or 37.2 percent, from 16,492 in the same period last year, according to the Supreme Court Registry Information Plaza.

That is the highest first-half figure in four years, since 24,475 cases were recorded in the first half of 2022. An additional 2,837 registrations have been filed so far in July, and the final count could rise further given the typical lag between a sales contract and the completion of an ownership transfer.

Seoul residents' purchases of collective buildings in Gyeonggi Province rose from 18,393 cases in the first half of 2023 to 19,370 in the first half of 2024, before dipping to 16,492 last year. This year, the figure has surged back above 22,000. Analysts note the rebound is even more striking given that last year's figures were not subject to land transaction permit zone restrictions, suggesting demand from Seoul buyers has grown considerably stronger.

Last year, the government's Oct. 15 real estate measures placed Seoul and parts of Gyeonggi Province under land transaction permit zones, briefly cooling buyer sentiment. Seoul residents' purchases of Gyeonggi collective buildings fell from 3,719 cases in October last year — just before the measures took effect — to 3,247 in November.

The mood has shifted this year. Rising Seoul apartment prices have spread to outlying areas, and price-gain expectations have grown in major Gyeonggi cities such as Suwon's Yeongton district and Hwaseong's Dongtan. Analysts say buyers with remaining purchasing capacity are moving quickly to snap up Gyeonggi properties before prices climb further.

Seoul residents accounted for 22,634 of the 168,230 collective building purchases in Gyeonggi Province in the first half of this year, pushing their share to 13.5 percent from 11.0 percent in the same period last year — a 2.5 percentage point increase and the highest share since the first half of 2022, when it stood at 16.1 percent.

Buying activity was concentrated in cities that border Seoul or offer commuter rail and metropolitan transit access to the capital. In Guri, Seoul residents' purchases of collective buildings jumped 211.8 percent, from 390 cases in the first half of last year to 1,216 this year. Over the same period, Gunpo rose 139.8 percent from 176 to 422 cases, and Gwangmyeong climbed 122.0 percent from 574 to 1,274 cases.

Uiwang also saw a sharp increase, rising 120.1 percent from 154 to 339 cases. In Anyang's Dongan district, purchases surged 104.8 percent from 558 to 1,143 cases, more than doubling in a single year.

Real estate industry observers say Seoul housing price increases and tighter loan limits are working in tandem to push demand into Gyeonggi Province. As the equity required to buy in Seoul has grown while the amount buyers can borrow has shrunk, many are choosing Gyeonggi cities as an alternative — one that preserves Seoul commuting access at a relatively lower price point.

Rising jeonse and monthly rent in Seoul have also fueled Gyeonggi buying activity. Rather than continuing to pay high rental costs in the city, more end-users are combining loans and savings to purchase homes in Gyeonggi Province instead.

"Cities like Guri and Anyang, where purchases by Seoul residents have risen sharply, tend to have a relatively young demographic and are within commuting distance of Seoul," said Ko Jun-seok, a professor at Yonsei University's Sangnam School of Management. "Ultimately, rental demand in Seoul is being converted into purchase demand in Gyeonggi Province."

"With rental prices rising, the push to secure a home before housing prices climb even further has materialized as increased buying in Gyeonggi Province," Ko added.