Price-fixing complaints in housing market top 600 over 5 years, with 78% from greater Seoul area

Reports of apartment price-fixing — where residents pressure one another not to list units below a set price or steer buyers away from certain real estate agents — have exceeded 600 cases over the past five years, with roughly eight in 10 filed in the greater Seoul area, data showed Thursday.

According to Yonhap, an analysis of data from the office of Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Yeom Tae-young, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, found that 617 price-fixing complaints were filed with the Real Estate Transaction Order Disturbance Reporting Center between 2022 and the end of August this year.

Gyeonggi Province recorded the highest number of complaints at 251, followed by Seoul with 205, Busan with 51 and Incheon with 27. Combined, Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon accounted for 483 cases — 78.3 percent of the total.

A significant number of complaints led to actual investigations. Of the 617 reports, 487 were classified as subject to investigation after excluding duplicates, withdrawals and cases with insufficient documentation. Of those, 121 resulted in corrective measures, while 94 were referred for further action including criminal investigation.

The greater Seoul area also dominated referrals for further action. Seoul accounted for 54 cases, Gyeonggi Province for 20 and Incheon for three — a combined 77 cases, or 81.9 percent of the national total.

Price-fixing can become a criminal matter when it goes beyond residents simply discussing prices and crosses into actively restricting brokerage or transactions. The Licensed Real Estate Agents Act prohibits using online communities or notices to discourage listings below a certain price, or to limit access to specific agents, when done with the intent to improperly influence market prices.

Violations can carry a prison sentence of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won ($22,100). "Apartment price-fixing can undermine order in the housing market and obstruct rational transactions for genuine buyers," Yeom said. "We need to closely examine the areas and patterns where repeated complaints arise and take steps to prevent recurrence."