Unstoppable Nowon Reconstruction Fever... Two Complexes Pass Safety Inspections Every Month

Preliminary Safety Diagnosis Domino Passed in Sanggye, Junggye, and Hagye-dong Areas
11 Sanggye Jugong Complexes to Undergo Detailed Safety Inspection
'2019 Failure' Wolgye Siyoung Reapplies
Development Boosts Including Dongbuk Light Rail and Dongbu Expressway Undergrounding

Real estate stock photo / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Tae-min] The wave of reconstruction is intensifying in the Nowon-gu area of Seoul. Since the second half of last year, as a large number of safety inspection applications have been submitted, preliminary safety inspection passes have been appearing about twice a month in the Sanggye, Junggye, and Hagye neighborhoods. Along with development benefits such as the Dongbuk Line light rail, the prices of reconstruction complexes in Nowon-gu are also showing an upward trend.

According to the maintenance industry on the 9th, Junggye Green Apartments in Junggye-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul, received a D grade, which corresponds to conditional reconstruction, in the preliminary safety inspection conducted by Nowon-gu Office on the 4th. The preliminary safety inspection is the first step in the reconstruction project, and to proceed with reconstruction, a grade of D or lower among grades A to E must be received.

Built in 1990, 'Junggye Green' is a large-scale apartment complex consisting of 25 buildings with 3,481 households. It is located right in front of Junggye Station on Subway Line 7. It consists only of small corridor-type apartments ranging from 39 to 59㎡ (exclusive area).

Earlier last month, Sanggye Jugong Complex 10 also received a D grade (conditional reconstruction) in the preliminary safety inspection. With Complex 10 passing the preliminary safety inspection, among the 16 Sanggye Jugong complexes in the area, 11 complexes (Complexes 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, and 16) are now preparing for detailed safety inspections.

Following Sanggye-dong, complexes in the Hagye-dong area are also accelerating reconstruction efforts. The Geukdong Geonyeong Byeoksan Apartments passed the preliminary safety inspection on the 15th of last month. Hagye Jangmi, which passed the preliminary safety inspection in March, has completed fundraising for the detailed safety inspection, and Hanshin and Cheonggu Apartments are currently in the fundraising process for the detailed safety inspection. Hanshin and Cheonggu are pursuing integrated reconstruction.

In Wolgye-dong, the number of complexes pursuing reconstruction safety inspections is increasing. The Wolgye-dong Siyoung Apartments (Mirung, Miseong, Samho 3rd), with a total of 3,930 households, are preparing to retry the preliminary safety inspection. This complex failed the safety inspection in October 2019 with a C grade. Samho 4th in Wolgye-dong has also entered the preliminary safety inspection process.

As reconstruction projects in the area are actively progressing, housing prices in Nowon-gu are also rising sharply. According to the Korea Real Estate Board, apartment sale prices in Nowon-gu rose by 2.76% from August to September this year, recording the highest increase among the 25 autonomous districts in Seoul. This figure exceeds the Seoul average (1.64%) during the same period by more than 1 percentage point.

In addition, various development projects within Nowon-gu are also acting as positive factors. The Dongbuk Line light rail, which began construction in March, is scheduled to open in 2025, connecting Wangsimni Station on Subway Lines 2, 5, and Suin-Bundang Line to Sanggye Station on Line 4. The underground section of the Dongbu Expressway (Changdong to Sanggye section) is also scheduled to open in December 2024.