Tag: apartments

It seems every few years a Korean builders gets exposed for shoddy construction. Here is the latest example which could impact the entire Korean construction industry:

Rebar and wires are exposed in the collapsed parking garage of GS E&C’s apartment complex construction site in Incheon in this May 2 file photo. Yonhap

The government’s recent disclosure of poorly built underground parking garages of apartment complexes nationwide has not only sparked fears about the safety of Korea’s housing construction, but also caused concerns over a potential setback in Korea’s ambitious plan to win $50 billion in overseas construction orders every year until 2027, industry experts said Wednesday. 

Given that GS E&C, DL Construction, Hyosung Heavy Industries and other major Korean builders have been criticized for building parking garages having insufficient steel bars in their pillars, the experts warned that foreign clients may avoid placing orders with those companies.

“This issue will eventually affect the overseas business of Korean builders, tarnishing the country’s reputation as a construction powerhouse,” said Choe Myeong-ki, who is in charge of the construction sector in the Industrial Field Professors under supervision of the labor ministry. “Foreign clients will raise questions about the capability of Korean builders involved in poor construction.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Chinese nationals have apparently been investing heavily in Korean real estate:

Chinese people account for over 54 percent of homes owned by foreigners in Korea, while Americans account for 24 percent of them, according to the land ministry’s latest data on foreign ownership of land and housing in Korea. 

Data revealed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Wednesday, show foreign nationals own 83,512 homes in Korea as of the end of last year, accounting for 0.4 percent of all residential property in the country.

This is the first time that statistics on homes owned by foreigners have been officially announced by the government. So far, the land ministry had been announcing statistics on a regular basis on foreign land ownership, but not the number of homes in the country owned by foreigners. The disclosure of the data is ascribed to the Yoon administration’s pledge to regulate foreigners’ speculative housing transactions. 

By category, 91 percent of the homes owned by foreigners are in multi-complex housing, such as apartments, while the other 9 percent are single-family detached houses.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but this makes me wonder how many of these Chinese owned apartments are actually occupied or are they just sitting empty waiting to appreciate and be sold again?

More apartment construction is coming to the greater Seoul area:

The government named 17 sites where 35,000 apartment units will be built in the greater Seoul area, one of its attempts to cool off the overheated real estate market.

This is the first batch of sites the government announced. An additional 13 sites and 265,000 units will be announced later, including four to five “new cities” to be built next to the first generation of new cities such as Ilsan and Bundang in Gyeonggi.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Friday said it plans to supply 10,000 apartment units in Seoul on 11 sites. However only two areas in Seoul were disclosed as it is still working with the Seoul city government. The ministry said the Seoul government will announce the nine remaining sites.

The ones that were disclosed were Songpa District, southeastern Seoul, where the relocated Seongdong Detention Center used to stand, and Gaepo-dong, Gangnam District, southern Seoul. The two sites that were named are located on the edge of the nation’s capital, contrary to previous speculation that they would be located in the center of the city.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but Uijongbu has been selected as a suburb of Seoul that will also have more apartments constructed.  The government has not released where the apartments will be built, but with the closure of Camp Red Cloud in the near future, the old USFK military base could become yet another area in Korea covered in apartments.

There is so little green space around Seoul as it is and it appears there may soon be even less:

The Korean government is mulling the option of developing regions in Seoul designated as greenbelt areas to increase apartment supply in the city.

According to local media reports in Korea, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Infrastructure is looking into securing land in Seoul that could be developed into residential areas. Options on the table for the Land Ministry includes greenbelt areas with relatively less conservation value compared to other areas as well as abandoned land in the city.

Greenbelt zones are protected areas of land where building is not permitted to protect the environment.

Lawmakers and top officials, including ruling Democratic Party Chairman Lee Hae-chan and Blue House policy chief Jang Ha-sung, have said that the government wants to significantly increase the supply of apartments in Seoul. The stance indicates an about-face in the government’s real estate policy.

As recently as last week, top officials, including Land Minister Kim Hyun-mee, said that the supply of housing in Korea is sufficient. Up until now, government measures focused on tight control over speculation on existing apartments.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but does anyone still think that all of Yongsan Garrison once it is vacated will become a city park?

The average apartment prices in Seoul are actually not as expensive as I was expecting, but they are still pretty high:

Apartment prices in Seoul are expected to surpass 500 million won this month.

According to Kookmin Bank’s housing prices data, the average sale price of apartments in Seoul came to 499-point-nine million won as of the end of last month.

The average sale price of apartments in Seoul marked 489 million won in April 2013 and stayed below 500 million won for the past two years, but it is moving upward recently.

The steady rise in the apartment price is attributed to a surge in prices of jeonse, or deposit-based long-term rentals. [KBS World]