Seoul first-priority apartment subscriptions hit 4-year low as Gangnam supply dries up

The number of first-priority apartment subscription applicants in Seoul this year has fallen to its lowest level in four years, driven largely by a sharp drop in general pre-sale supply in the Gangnam area.

Real estate research firm RealToday analyzed data from the Korea Real Estate Board's subscription platform and found that, as of Wednesday, general pre-sales in the three Gangnam-area districts — Seocho-gu, Gangnam-gu and Songpa-gu — totaled just two complexes and 73 units this year, an 88.8 percent decline from the same period last year, when 652 units were offered.

The two projects were Othere Banpo in Jamwon-dong, Seocho-gu (43 units) and Akro de Seocho in Seocho-dong (30 units). No new complexes were offered in Gangnam-gu or Songpa-gu. General pre-sale supply in the Gangnam area is the lowest since 2022, when it recorded zero units — a four-year low.

In the rest of Seoul outside the three Gangnam-area districts, a total of 21 complexes and 2,292 units came to market, up 77.4 percent from 1,292 units in the same period last year.

Across Seoul as a whole, 23 complexes and 2,365 units were offered, a 21.7 percent increase from 1,944 units a year earlier.

Despite the rise in overall supply, the number of first-priority applicants fell 48.6 percent, from 303,218 to 155,890 — the lowest since 2022, when 68,746 people applied.

Analysts attribute the drop in demand to the near-absence of Gangnam-area pre-sales. Those units are subject to price caps and are widely known as "lottery subscriptions" because successful applicants can pocket large gains over market prices.

With supply in the three Gangnam-area districts so scarce, the average first-priority subscription competition rate there surged to 870.0 to 1, triple the 285.5 to 1 recorded in the same period last year.

Akro de Seocho drew 32,973 applicants for 30 first-priority units in April, posting an average competition rate of 1,099.1 to 1 — the highest ever recorded for a privately developed apartment complex offered in Seoul since 2015.

In the rest of Seoul outside the three Gangnam-area districts, the average first-priority competition rate was 40.3 to 1, less than half the 90.6 to 1 seen in the same period last year.

The citywide first-priority competition rate of 65.9 to 1 also came in at less than half the 156.0 to 1 recorded a year earlier.