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No. of out-of-town homebuyers who purchased apartments in Seoul reaches four-year high in 2025

Published: 07 Jan. 2026, 18:02 Updated: 08 Jan. 2026, 14:26

Apartment buildings are seen from Mount Namsam in central Seoul on Aug. 8, 2024. [NEWS1]

The number of homebuyers from outside Seoul who purchased apartments in the capital in 2025 reached a four-year high, driven by a wave of so-called expedition buying as home prices continued to soar in Seoul while falling in other regions.

According to the Supreme Court’s real estate registry information portal on Wednesday, 46,007 buyers living outside Seoul purchased multiunit homes in the city in 2025, including apartments, villas and officetels. That marked a 19 percent increase from a year earlier and was the highest figure since 2021, when 52,461 out-of-town buyers snapped up homes during a period of rapid price growth.

The number of non-Seoul buyers fell to 38,234 in 2022 as mortgage rates surged, then remained in the 30,000 range in 2023 and 2024 before jumping past 40,000 in 2025. Out-of-town buyers accounted for 25.1 percent of all Seoul home purchases last year, meaning one in four buyers lived outside the capital.

Residents of Gyeonggi made up the largest share, with 27,885 purchases, followed by Incheon residents with 3,712. Outside the greater Seoul area, the highest numbers came from South Gyeongsang with 2,458 buyers, South Chungcheong with 1,489, Gangwon with 1,296, Busan with 1,223, North Gyeongsang with 1,130 and Daejeon with 1,075.

Non-Seoul buyers also concentrated their purchases in the Gangnam region and along the Han River belt. Songpa District, southern Seoul, recorded the highest number of purchases by out-of-town residents at 3,425, followed by Gangdong District, eastern Seoul, with 3,036; Mapo District, western Seoul, with 3,001; Yeongdeungpo District, western Seoul, with 2,896; Gangnam District, southern Seoul, with 2,530; Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, with 2,139; and Seocho District, southern Seoul, with 2,127.

Apartment buildings are seen in Bundang District, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, on Sept. 29, 2024. [YONHAP]

The increase in non-Seoul purchases is widely attributed to a widening gap in housing prices between Seoul and other regions.

Seoul apartment prices rose by a cumulative 8.71 percent in 2025 based on weekly data, according to the Korea Real Estate Board. This surpasses gains seen during the Moon Jae-in administration, when the phrase “crazy home prices” became common. In contrast, apartment prices in Gyeonggi rose just 1.37 percent, while prices fell 0.65 percent in Incheon and declined 1.13 percent nationwide.

“Provincial housing markets have remained stagnant for years due to a buildup of unsold homes, but loan and tax regulations have intensified the concentration of demand in Seoul even within the capital region,” said Ko Jun-seok, a professor at Yonsei University’s Sangnam Institute of Management. “The trend reflects cash-rich buyers outside the Seoul area traveling to the capital to purchase a single prime property.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY BAEK MIN-JEONG [[email protected]]