The front gate view of Raemian Daechi Palace
“Driver, please take me to the apartment complex ‘Gwangju Jeonnam Joint Innovation City Bitgaram Daebang Elyeum Royal County.”
This apartment complex located in Naju, Jeonnam, has the longest name in Korea with a total of 25 characters. Besides this, complexes with names exceeding 20 characters are increasing, such as Ulsan’s ‘Ulsan Blue Macity Seohee Star Hills Blue One Apartment.’ Because apartment names are so long and complicated, it is difficult to remember the address, leading to jokes that mothers-in-law get confused and cannot find the place. Why are apartment complex names made so difficult and lengthy like this?
The main cause is pet names like ‘First’ and ‘Foret’... Consortium apartments are also increasing
Recently, apartment naming usually follows the order of ▲region name/landmark name ▲construction company name ▲brand name ▲pet name (pat name/nickname). For example, an apartment in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province is named Icheon Jeungpo 3 District (region name) Daewon (construction company name) Cantavil (brand name) 2nd The Terrace (pet name).
The lengthening of apartment names began in earnest when construction companies started adding their unique apartment brand names or words that emphasize the complex’s character, called ‘pet names.’ There are certain rules for attaching pet names. If it is the first branded apartment in a particular neighborhood, it uses ‘First’; if near a park, ‘Parkview’; if there is a forest, ‘Foret’; if the school district is good or there are many academies, ‘Edu’; if there is a major road with four or more lanes nearby, ‘Central’; if near a market or plaza, ‘Place’ or ‘Square’ to emphasize the location. Recently, various foreign languages such as Spanish, French, and Latin have been overused, making the names sound ‘fancy’ in colloquial terms.
Additionally, as ‘consortium apartments’?large complexes jointly constructed by multiple construction companies?increase, names become even longer. Even with just two construction companies, names get longer like ‘Raemian Hillstate’ or ‘Raemian Prugio.’ There are also names combining three brands, such as Wirye New Town’s ‘Wirye Jayeon & Raemian e-Pyeonhan Sesang’ (Jayeon & + Raemian + e-Pyeonhan Sesang) and Namyangju’s ‘Dasan Jingeon Jayeon & e-Pyeonhan Sesang Xi’ (Jayeon & + e-Pyeonhan Sesang + Xi).
As apartment brand ‘upscaling’ lengthens names, citizens’ inconvenience increases. Since residents find the names hard to memorize, it is common to shorten the complex names arbitrarily. According to real estate information research firm ‘Real Estate Info,’ the average number of characters in apartment names nationwide in 2019 was 9.84, more than twice the 4.2 characters in the 1990s.
This phenomenon is due to housing prices. Apartment names influence future housing prices. In fact, a paper titled ‘A Study on Apartment Brand Premium through Name Change Cases’ published last year by the Korea Real Estate Analysis Society found that apartments that changed their names to more recognized brands experienced about a 7.8% price increase compared to nearby apartments that did not change their names.
“Let’s create guidelines” vs “Uniqueness will disappear”
Recently, Seoul City has taken steps to establish guidelines to simplify long and complicated apartment names. On the 20th, the ‘2nd Public Discussion on Apartment Naming’ was held at Seoul City Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul. At this meeting, there was conflict depending on interests regarding the establishment of naming guidelines.
Son Chang-woo, a senior manager at Hyundai Engineering who attended the discussion, said, “Just the region name and the construction company’s brand are sufficient to express the value of an apartment, and adding pet names now seems to have brought negative results.” He added, “Since top-tier construction companies should set an example, we plan to request changes to the Hillstate brand within the company.”
On the other hand, there were arguments that apartments, as residents’ private property, should not have restrictions such as character limits to preserve uniqueness. Lee Hee-won, a Seoul city council member, stated, “Based on experience in brokerage of reconstruction and redevelopment properties, the value varies depending on the apartment name,” and “Even if the name is long, it should have distinctive characteristics to be recognized as unique.”
Meanwhile, the association side expressed that since conflicts may arise over naming apartments, it is necessary to find a methodology that gathers members’ opinions while keeping names concise. Bae In-yeon, chairman of the Gaepo 1 Complex Reconstruction Association, said, “Ultimately, if a vote is held, opinions may lean toward increasing apartment value, which can cause conflicts.” Kim Jung-woo, chairman of the Sindonga Association, added, “At the association level, efforts to coordinate rather than blindly follow the construction company or some residents’ opinions are necessary.”
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