As the number of unsold dwellings across the country exceeds 70,000, Gyeonggi Province's Gwacheon City has shown that there have been no unsold dwellings for nearly six years. Gwacheon is also the area with the highest apartment price growth rate in the country this year.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 8th, Gwacheon City in Gyeonggi Province had zero unsold dwellings for 5 years and 3 months, ending in October 2019 (2 units) until March of this year. No new developments are set to be sold in Gwacheon until August, suggesting that it will have no unsold dwellings for at least 5 years and 8 months. The only supply in Gwacheon this year is expected to be the 'DH Adels Star' with 880 units in Juam Village, available in August.
Often referred to as the 'leader' of Gyeonggi Province, Gwacheon is easily accessible from Gangnam and is also called 'quasi-Gangnam.' It has a high demand due to its well-equipped educational and natural environments. However, the supply remains absolutely insufficient. According to Real Estate R114, the number of move-in units in Gwacheon has been only 13,064 units over the past 10 years, from 2016 to this year. It is expected that move-in supply will also be insufficient in the future. Excluding 846 units next year and 3,802 units in 2027, there are no anticipated move-in units until 2030.
The result of this supply and demand imbalance has been skyrocketing prices. This year, Gwacheon recorded the highest apartment price growth rate in the country. According to the Korea Real Estate Board, the accumulated increase in Gwacheon apartment sales prices until the fourth week of April this year (as of May 1) was 4.70%, the highest in the country. This exceeded even the soaring prices seen in Songpa, Seoul, which saw a 4.54% increase due to the lifting of land transaction permission zones. The weekly sales price growth rate was 0.28%, securing the top spot nationwide.
This is because new large-scale complexes in Gwacheon are breaking record prices. The 'Gwacheon Prugio Summit' in Central Gwacheon, which opened in 2021, was traded for a record 2.45 billion won (8,400 square feet) on April 11. On March 24, a 59-square-meter unit also recorded a new high of 1.83 billion won (3rd floor). An 84-square-meter unit in 'Gwacheon Xi,' located in Byeolyang-dong, was also traded for 2.31 billion won, marking the highest price.
Park Hap-soo, a professor at the Konkuk University Graduate School of Real Estate, noted, 'There are currently no business sites in Gwacheon where supply can be developed in the near future,' adding that, 'Given its location as an eco-friendly clean area and quasi-Gangnam, demand is high, yet supply is absolutely insufficient.'
Yoon Ji-hae, senior researcher at Real Estate R114, said, 'Just as there is a preference for the three districts of Gangnam in Seoul, there is a high preference for Gwacheon in the Gyeonggi area.' She added, 'The original administrative district is small, and almost all available land has already been used, so it is expected that supply will remain insufficient in the future.'