Average Apartment Price in Seoul Breaks W600 Million Barrier

The average apartment price in Seoul has now surpassed W600 million as owning a home in the capital becomes an ever more distant dream for young people (US$1=W1,126).

According to KB Bank's housing price index, the average apartment sale price in Seoul stood at W600.2 million last month, up W1.56 million from the month before.

The rise was driven by soaring prices in ritzy southern Seoul due to massive renovation plans for older apartment buildings. The area's average price stood at W723.4 million in March, up 0.12 percent from February, compared to 0.1 percent nationwide and 0.08 percent in northern Seoul.

In the three wealthiest districts in southern Seoul, the rise was bigger than the average, with Seocho at 0.24 percent, Gangnam 0.21 percent and Songpa 0.12 percent.

But things are also heating up north of the river, where the average price rose W2.06 million in just a month to W455.4 million. Nowon, Seodaemun, Eunpyeong and Seongdong prices grew faster than the average.

Park Won-gap, a real estate analyst at KB Bank, said, "Prices in Nowon appear to have risen because of rising demand from home buyers as apartments there are cheaper than elsewhere".

The nationwide average was W319.5 million, and in the six major cities outside Seoul -- Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon and Ulsan -- it was just W260.2 million, less than half the average in Seoul.