1 Million Won Monthly Rent Is Now the Median in Seoul... Rising Anxiety in the Rental Market [Real Estate AtoZ]

Median Monthly Rent Hits 1,007,000 Won in December
Psychological Threshold for High-Priced Rents Surpassed
First Time Since Korea Real Estate Board Began Tracking
Growing Concerns Over Housing Instability for Renters

Last month, the median monthly rent for homes in Seoul exceeded 1 million won. The psychological threshold of "1 million won" for high-priced monthly rents is no longer limited to newly built apartments or highly sought-after neighborhoods, but has become a common sight in many areas.

Monthly rents are rising in tandem with soaring home purchase prices over the past year. Several factors have contributed to this trend: the environment created by real estate policies that have made it harder to buy homes, leading to increased demand for rentals; the desire to avoid rental deposit fraud; and landlords’ preference for monthly rent due to low interest rates. As monthly rents, which generally place a heavier financial burden on tenants than lump-sum deposits, continue to climb, concerns about housing instability among renters are growing.

According to data released by the Korea Real Estate Board on January 15, the median monthly rent in Seoul in December 2025 was 1,007,000 won. Just a month earlier, in November, the median was 995,000 won. In comparison, the median monthly rent for homes in provincial areas was 506,000 won, about half that of Seoul.

The median value represents the middle point when all data points are arranged in order. This is the first time since the Korea Real Estate Board began compiling data that the median monthly rent for homes in Seoul has surpassed 1 million won. The average monthly rent surpassed 1 million won four years ago, in July 2021, reaching 1,052,000 won.

While the average can be skewed by a small number of extremely high or low samples, the median is less affected by such outliers and better reflects the typical situation. This means that for an average household renting a home in Seoul, spending 1 million won each month on housing costs has become the norm.

After a period of gradual increases, monthly rents in Seoul began to rise more sharply in the second half of last year. According to the Korea Real Estate Board, the composite monthly rent price index rose by 3.27% over the past year, with 1.57% of that increase occurring between October and December alone. An analysis of transaction data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport shows that in December 2025, there were 3,860 monthly rent transactions for apartments in Seoul at or above 1 million won, nearly three times the figure from the same period ten years prior (1,304 in December 2015). The proportion of monthly rent contracts at or above 1 million won also increased from 26% to 39% of all monthly rent agreements.

The reasons behind rising monthly rents are complex. First, the trend of "jeonse-to-monthly-rent conversion," which had slowed for a while, has picked up again. The aftermath of "Kangtong Jeonse" (rental deposit scams) and jeonse fraud, particularly involving non-apartment properties such as villas and officetels, has led to continued avoidance of jeonse contracts. As a result, even though monthly rent is more expensive for tenants, many now prefer it for its relative safety.

The surge in jeonse prices is another factor. For newly built apartments in popular areas of Seoul, jeonse deposits now exceed the price of several apartments in provincial cities. Many tenants take out loans to cover these deposits, but with the cost of repaying the loan interest being similar to paying monthly rent to the landlord, more people are opting for the latter. Government efforts to control household debt by tightening mortgage and jeonse loan regulations have also made it harder to secure large sums of money.

Additionally, as asset markets such as stocks and cryptocurrencies have become more active, more people are seeking to invest their capital rather than locking it up in real estate through purchases or jeonse contracts. The low interest rate environment has also encouraged more landlords to seek steady monthly rental income.

View of apartment buildings in downtown Seoul from Namsan. Photo by Yonhap News

Park Wongap, Senior Real Estate Research Fellow at KB Kookmin Bank, stated, "Monthly and jeonse rental prices are inevitably tied to home purchase prices. Since apartment prices in Seoul soared last year, rental prices were bound to rise with a time lag. The two major tenancy laws (the right to request contract renewal and the cap on rent increases) have accelerated the shift to monthly rent and also impacted prices."

High-priced monthly rents are now frequently found not only in Seoul’s most expensive districts-such as the three Gangnam districts, Yongsan District, and areas near the Han River-but also in less sought-after neighborhoods. For example, on January 13, a 59-square-meter unit in Sanggye Jugong Complex 7 in Nowon District, nearly 40 years old, was rented for a deposit of 50 million won and a monthly rent of 1 million won. Older apartment complexes in Sanggye-dong and Junggye-dong, known for their proximity to cram schools, attract many short-term residents, resulting in relatively high monthly rents. In Banghak-dong, Dobong District, a 70-square-meter unit in Sindonga Apartment was contracted for a deposit of 50 million won and a monthly rent of 1.1 million won.