In One Month, 100 Million Won Surge... Unstoppable Magok Housing Prices

Various Large-Scale Development Benefits
Seoul Apartment Sale Price Increase Rate
Gangseo-gu, 1st Place for 2 Consecutive Weeks

Seoul apartment complex. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] The housing prices in Magok District, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, are showing an unusual upward trend. With a flood of development benefits, cases of prices rising by 100 million KRW within a month are occurring one after another, rising relentlessly. As a result, housing prices in nearby Banghwa and Hwagok-dong are also being driven up.

According to the Korea Real Estate Board on the 17th, Gangseo-gu has recorded the highest apartment sale price increase rate in Seoul for two consecutive weeks. Although the increase rate narrowed to 0.3% last week and 0.29% this week, it still far exceeds the Seoul average (0.21%).

Magok District’s real estate market is vibrant to the extent that it is hard to believe it experienced a surplus of unsold units just seven years ago. There have been consecutive cases where the sale price for the same unit size rose by 100 million KRW in less than a month.

Hillstate Master in Magok District Complex 13, which crossed the loan prohibition line by changing hands at 1.5 billion KRW on July 15, rose by 100 million KRW within a month. For the 84㎡ (exclusive area), a new high price was recorded again on the 19th of last month at 1.6 billion KRW. Magok M Valley Complex 7’s 84㎡, which was traded at 1.49 billion KRW on the 5th of last month, changed hands at 1.6 billion KRW just fifteen days later.

The skyrocketing housing prices in Magok District appear to be influenced by various development benefits. Next to the Magok M Valley complex, the Magok MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) complex development project, with a total investment of 3.3 trillion KRW, began construction in July. This is a large-scale development project approximately 1.8 times the size of COEX (460,000㎡) in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu.

LG Science Park is also undergoing its second phase of construction. Near Yangcheon Hyanggyo Station, just one subway stop away from Magoknaru Station on Line 9, a 14-story knowledge industry center and a complex shopping mall are being developed. This is 1.7 times the size of COEX in Samseong-dong.

The rising housing prices in Magok District are also affecting nearby areas such as Banghwa, Hwagok, and Gayang-dong. An 84㎡ unit in Magok Woolim Philyu in Banghwa-dong was traded at 1.04 billion KRW on the 28th of last month, surpassing the 1 billion KRW mark. Compared to the previous highest price of 920 million KRW traded in June, it has risen by over 100 million KRW in two months. Similarly, the 84㎡ unit in Hwagok Prugio in Hwagok-dong has shown a steep rise: 1.05 billion KRW in June, 1.175 billion KRW in July, and 1.205 billion KRW in August. A Korea Real Estate Board official said, "The price increase trend in adjacent mid-to-low price areas such as Magok District, Banghwa, and Deungchon-dong is driving up housing prices in Gangseo-gu."