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As moving season nears, rental listings drop despite — or because of — housing stability policies

Published: 20 Feb. 2026, 18:05 Updated: 23 Feb. 2026, 11:31

Apartment buildings in Nowon District, northern Seoul, on Jan. 29. [NEWS1]

Junggye Jugong 2 Complex in Junggye-dong, Nowon District — a northern Seoul neighborhood known for its schools — is home to about 1,800 households.

But as of Thursday, there were zero listings for monthly rent and only five for lump-sum housing leases. The biggest complex in Junggye-dong, Junggye Green, which has 3,481 units, wasn’t much better, with seven monthly rent listings and 11 lump-sum housing lease listings.

“Around Nowon, and really in most areas, long-term and monthly rentals have basically dried up,” a licensed real estate agent at a nearby brokerage said.

With the spring moving season approaching, Seoul’s rental market for monthly and lump-sum deposit leases is freezing over at a rapid pace. It stands in stark contrast to a rise in for-sale listings — especially along the Han River belt, as President Lee Jae Myung continued to put pressure on owners of multiple homes even during the holiday break.

Some analysts say policies intended to promote housing stability by promoting the ownership of only one house are, paradoxically, cutting off the housing ladder for lower-income residents.

Rental listings for apartments and officetels — buildings that combine commercial and residential spaces — in Seoul stood at 36,994 as of Thursday — down 16.8 percent from 44,424 on Jan. 1, according to real estate big data firm Asil. Over the same period, for-sale listings moved in the opposite direction, rising 10.5 percent from 57,001 to 62,990.

While the government has been encouraged by the increase in listings for sale, lump-sum deposit and monthly listings — a crucial housing option for working-class households — have been disappearing even faster.

Apartment buildings are seen from Mount Namsan in central Seoul on Feb. 12. [YONHAP]

Rental listings fell across all 25 districts in Seoul, with the decline steeper in outlying areas, home to larger lower- and middle-income populations. In Nowon District, listings shrank from 1,198 to 721 over the same period, a 39.9 percent drop.

Large declines were also seen in Dongdaemun at 37.9 percent, Guro at 37.8 percent, Geumcheon at 36.9 percent, Dobong at 33.9 percent, Seongdong at 33.2 percent, Seongbuk at 32 percent, Eunpyeong at 31 percent and Jungnang at 30.3 percent.

When it came to monthly rent listings, the drop was sharper: Across Seoul, the number of listings fell 17.1 percent, from 21,364 to 17,730.

Many point to tough real estate regulations introduced after the Lee administration took office in 2025 as a key driver of the “vanishing rentals” phenomenon. After the Oct. 15 real estate measures placed all of Seoul under three layers of curbs — including land transaction permit zones that require district permission to sell — only actual homeowners seeking to live in the property were allowed to purchase, effectively blocking purchases by those who intended to rent out the property.

The measures intended to stop-gap investment by homeowners buying a property by leveraging a tenant’s lump-sum housing lease deposit, but they have also reduced the number of rental units coming onto the market.

A view of apartment buildings in Seoul can be seen in this undated file photo. [YONHAP]

Since January, the president’s repeated emphasis on heavier capital gains taxes for owners of multiple homes, coupled with a stronger push for single-residence ownership, has further chilled the rental market, observers say.

“Given that multi-homeowners have provided a sizable share of private rental supply, regulations centered on owner occupancy inevitably lead to fewer rental units,” said Kwon Dae-jung, a professor at the Graduate School of Economics and Real Estate at Hansung University.

Loan restrictions have also encouraged existing tenants to stay put, adding to the squeeze. Data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s real transaction price disclosure system show that, of 63,028 lump-sum deposit contracts for Seoul apartments in 2025, 35,281 exercised the right to request a contract renewal — far higher than the 34.4 percent share in 2024.

The concern is that a shrinking rental market could translate into a sharp rise in lump-sum deposit amounts and monthly rent. According to KB Real Estate, the average lump-sum deposit for Seoul apartments last month was 669.5 million won ($462,000), extending an upward streak to 30 consecutive months since August 2023, when it stood at 557.1 million won.

The lump-sum deposit lease outlook index — which gauges expectations for future lump-sum housing lease prices — also climbed to 125.8, the highest level in 61 months since December 2020 of 133.4.

Apartment complexes in Songpa District, southern Seoul, are seen on Feb. 1. [NEWS1]

The burden of monthly rent is rising quickly as well. In its nationwide housing price trend report released on Thursday, the Korea Real Estate Board said the average monthly rent for Seoul apartments last month reached 1.5 million won — topping that number for the first time since the organization began compiling relevant data.

“The owner-occupancy requirement and the one-home-per-owner framework may reflect positive policy intentions, but they could end up collapsing the rental market,” said Seo Jin-hyung, a professor of real estate law at Kwangwoon University. “Starting with the most vulnerable, people are losing their chance to move up the housing ladder.”

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 KIM JUN-YOUNG [[email protected]]