Apartment Prices in Biggest Plunge Since Financial Crisis

Apartment prices took the biggest fall since the global financial crisis in the late 2000s last month. The main reason is lack of demand amid rising interest rates and expectations among potential buyers that prices will fall even further if they wait.

According to the Korea Real Estate Board on Thursday, apartment prices across the country fell 0.51 percent on-month in August, the biggest decline since January 2009, when they plunged 0.68 percent.

Prices in the Seoul metropolitan region declined even more steeply at 0.66 percent. They dropped 0.71 percent in Gyeonggi Province, 0.96 percent in Incheon and 0.45 percent in Seoul proper.

In Gyeonggi and Incheon, some apartments in particularly overheated areas are being put up for sale at 30-percent discounts.

In the capital, apartment prices dropped noticeably in areas where mid-and low-priced homes are concentrated like Nowon (0.99 percent) and Dobong (0.97 percent).

The steepest fall nationwide was in Sejong administrative city with 1.26 percent, but the drop also exceeded the average in Daegu with 0.91 percent, Daejeon with 0.71 percent and Ulsan with 0.63 percent.