Monthly rent burdens are rising across Seoul as apartment jeonse (a lump-sum deposit lease) listings remain scarce. Jeonse prices in the capital have climbed for 84 consecutive weeks, seven of every 10 lease contracts signed this year were monthly-rent deals, and contracts charging more than 3 million won a month are also increasing. High-rent deals are spreading beyond the three affluent Gangnam-area districts into outlying areas with traditionally lower home prices, including Nowon, Dobong and Gangbuk as well as Geumcheon, Gwanak and Guro, pushing rent pressure across the city.
Seoul recorded 6,570 apartment lease contracts charging 3 million won or more a month from the start of this year through the 22nd, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's actual transaction price system. That is up 9.7% from 5,988 in the same period last year. High-rent contracts in Gangnam, Seocho and Songpa districts, by contrast, edged down to 3,896 from 3,899. The entire increase came from the other 22 districts in the capital.
The shift is sharper at the district level. Contracts of 3 million won or more a month in Mapo District rose more than 40% to 459 from 325 a year earlier. Gangdong District more than doubled to 148 from 67, and Dongjak District to 95 from 47.
Outlying districts stand out as well. Nowon, Dobong and Gangbuk together logged 12 such contracts through the 22nd, up sharply from one a year earlier. Geumcheon, Gwanak and Guro rose 133% to 21 from nine. High-rent deals once clustered in the Gangnam area, home to the city's most expensive apartments, but the range has widened toward the city's edges.
Brokers attribute the rent increases to shrinking jeonse supply and surging deposit prices. Seoul apartment jeonse prices have risen for 84 straight weeks since February last year, according to the Korea Real Estate Board. The cumulative increase this year stands at 7.79%, about 4.7 times the 1.66% gain in the same period last year.
Monthly rents are climbing quickly too. The average monthly rent for a Seoul apartment was 1.64 million won in August, with an average deposit of 195.65 million won. Deposits were little changed from a year earlier, but rents rose about 14% from 1.44 million won.
Brokers point to a shortage of rental listings, particularly in newly built complexes, as the main driver. "When a new complex opened late last year, rents for 84-square-meter units settled at 2.5 million to 3 million won a month with a 50 million won deposit," an agent in Gangbuk District said. "Jeonse for the same size was above 700 million to 800 million won then and has since reached 900 million won, so tenants who cannot raise a large lump sum are choosing high monthly rents."
Dongdaemun District tells a similar story. "Jeonse for 84-square-meter units passed 1 billion won as redevelopment complexes in Cheongnyangni began accepting residents," an agent in the district said. "Even those listings are scarce, so tenants are accepting high rents."
Jeonse listings in Dongdaemun District now total 315, down 53% from 671 at the start of the year, according to property platform Asil. As jeonse options thinned, contracts in the district charging 3 million won or more a month rose 73% to 92 this year from 53 last year.
Supply conditions in the rental market are unlikely to improve soon. Seoul apartment completions are set to fall to 25,281 units this year from 37,103 last year, then to 18,682 next year and 13,683 in 2028, according to Real Estate R114. Analysts say the parallel rise in jeonse and monthly rents will be hard to reverse quickly while new supply shrinks.
More existing tenants are renewing leases as the rental squeeze deepens, and the government's push toward policies favoring owner-occupiers is also cited as reducing the number of units reaching the rental market.
The government has unveiled a housing stability plan centered on supplying 1.19 million publicly backed homes, but critics say it will do little to calm the rental market in the near term. "Programs such as monthly rent subsidies for young adults may ease housing costs for now, but limited, temporary cash support will not go far in a market with constrained supply," said Shin Bo-yeon, a professor of real estate and AI convergence at Sejong University.
