Incheon Sees Record-High Transactions with Focus on Commercial and Office Real Estate...

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Seoyul] Last year, the number of commercial and office real estate transactions in Incheon reached an all-time high.

On the 10th, real estate research firm Realtoday analyzed data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's actual transaction price disclosure system and found that 6,522 commercial and office real estate transactions were recorded in Incheon last year. This is the highest figure since the Ministry began releasing related data in 2006.

The district with the most transactions was Namdong-gu, the primary downtown area of Incheon, with 1,424 transactions. It was followed by Seo-gu (1,131 transactions), Yeonsu-gu (954 transactions), and Bupyeong-gu (774 transactions). Notably, among Incheon's 10 districts and counties, Namdong-gu, Seo-gu, and Yeonsu-gu accounted for 54% (3,509 transactions) of the total transactions in Incheon.

By primary building use, the breakdown was as follows: second-class neighborhood living facilities (2,453 transactions), first-class neighborhood living facilities (2,071 transactions), lodging facilities (620 transactions), sales facilities (560 transactions), office facilities (427 transactions), other facilities (207 transactions), and educational research facilities (184 transactions), showing a high proportion in this order.

Meanwhile, although Incheon's commercial and office real estate recorded the highest transaction volume, the apartment market showed signs of cooling. The number of apartment sales transactions in Incheon, which had been rising since 2016 (65,922 transactions), fell by 26.2% last year (89,469 transactions) compared to the previous year (121,226 transactions), marking the largest drop on record.

Realtoday interpreted this as "With the government's strong regulations focused on the housing market, investment demand is shifting toward commercial and office real estate, which has relatively lower entry barriers such as loans and taxes."