Home Prices Surge in Big Cities, Jeju

Residential property prices have risen more than four percent, the fastest clip since 2007, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Thursday.

Prices in the southern port city of Busan and the resort island of Jeju also grew steeply, but in smaller cities they tumbled, especially southeastern industrial towns that have been hit hard by the economic slump and the shipbuilding crisis.

Based on an analysis of the prices of 12.4 million apartments and 3.96 million detached houses, the ministry said average home prices rose 4.44 percent nationwide, up for a fourth year, though the increase slowed a little since last year's 5.97 percent.

Residential property prices in Seoul and surrounding regions jumped 5.88 percent and in major provincial cities 3.49 percent, but they slipped 0.35 percent in smaller rural towns and counties.

In Seoul, residential property prices soared 8.12 percent due to major redevelopment projects, even faster than last year's 6.2 percent. In Jeju they surged a whopping 20 percent and in Busan 10.5 percent due to new development projects.

The upper end of the market is even more heated. Prices of homes under W600 million grew only 3.91 percent, but those of homes costing more than W600 million increased 8.68 percent (US$1=W1,134).

Prices of luxury detached homes worth around W10 billion rose 16.3 percent on average. The most expensive home in the nation for the 12th year was the Traum Haus 5 condominium in Seocho-dong, where prices jumped four percent to W6.6 billion.

The single most expensive home in the nation is the house of comatose Samsung chief Lee Kun-hee in Seoul's tony Hanam-dong district at W22.1 billion.