Construction of the Northeast Line from Sanggye to Wangsimni Begins, Area Around Stations Buzzing

Construction after 13 years, opening in 2024... High scarcity value of new apartments in Gangbuk area
Jegidong Station Raemian to be sold this month... Eungunsaegori Station Junggye Geonyeong 3rd phase transactions double

Northeast Seoul Light Rail Transit Map.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Dongbuk Line light rail transit (hereafter Dongbuk Line), connecting Sanggye-dong in Nowon-gu and Wangsimni in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, has broken ground after 13 years, causing the local real estate market to stir.

According to industry sources on the 11th, Dongbuk Line Urban Railway, the project operator, submitted the project commencement report to Seoul City in February and began construction. This comes 13 years after Seoul announced its 10-year urban railway master plan in 2007. The Dongbuk Line is a 13.4 km route running through Sanggye~Hagye~Wolgye~Miasageori, continuing to Korea University~Jegi-dong~Wangsimni. Sixteen stations and one vehicle depot will be constructed, with a total investment of 1.5936 trillion KRW. The line is scheduled to open in 2024.

As the Dongbuk Line project gains momentum, redevelopment areas near Nowon, Gangbuk, and Dongdaemun-gu are cited as the main beneficiaries. According to Seoul City's Clean-up System, the districts with management disposition approvals in these areas include two sites each in Nowon and Gangbuk-gu, and four sites in Dongdaemun-gu.

The first area to supply newly built apartments after the Dongbuk Line groundbreaking is "Raemian Elinity," a redevelopment project by Samsung C&T in Yongdu 6 District, Dongdaemun-gu, scheduled for sale this month. It is within walking distance of Sinseol-dong Station (Lines 1, 2, and Ui-Sinseol Line) and Jegi-dong Station (Line 1). The Dongbuk Line is planned to stop at Jegi-dong Station. This apartment complex consists of 1,048 units, with 477 units ranging from 51 to 121 square meters (exclusive area) available for general sale. Last year, "Kkumuisup Hanshin The Hue," sold in Gangbuk-gu, recorded an average competition rate of 38.2 to 1 with 2,787 applications for 73 units in the first priority subscription. This complex is located near Miasageori Station, a Dongbuk Line stop. Apartments near the Dongbuk Line, such as those close to academies, tend to have active transactions with frequent ownership changes. For example, the "Junggye Geonyeong 3rd" 85㎡ apartment in Junggye 1-dong, Nowon-gu, where the tentative Bank Intersection Station will be located, recorded 48 cumulative transactions from September last year, when the Dongbuk Line implementation plan was first approved, to March this year. This is double the 24 transactions recorded in the year before September last year. Kwon Il, head of the Real Estate Info Research Team, said, "In the Gangbuk area, redevelopment projects are progressing slowly, so most will be subject to the price ceiling system, making new apartments highly valuable due to scarcity. There are many additional transportation benefits, such as the Gangbuk Transversal Line included in Seoul's urban railway network plan, and the future value is high due to Seoul's balanced development strategy between Gangnam and Gangbuk."

Meanwhile, although Seoul City recently cut 73.3 billion KRW from this year's Dongbuk Line budget to allocate emergency funds in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, it is understood that this will not significantly affect the project's progress. A Seoul City official explained, "We are currently proceeding with procedures related to the driving license academy located on the Dongbuk Line vehicle depot site and land compensation. The budget was cut because these procedures have been delayed. When compensation payments are due, the city will allocate the budget in the main budget, so there is no impact on the project schedule."