"How much is this worth..." People buying without fear, now

[Financial News] Despite the recent activation of platforms for personal transactions, direct transactions in the actual housing sales market have significantly decreased.
On the 29th, real estate brokerage firm Jiptos analyzed nationwide officetel, multi-family, and apartment sales contracts from 2022 to the first quarter of 2025, revealing that the proportion of direct transactions in nationwide housing sales contracts reached 21.6% in 2022. However, it steadily decreased to 15.4% in 2023, 14.0% in 2024, and dropped to 12.5% in the first quarter of 2025. In just over three years, the proportion of direct transactions has nearly halved.
In particular, the decline in direct transactions was more pronounced for apartments. The nationwide apartment sales direct transaction ratio fell from 15.7% in 2022 to 10.7% in 2023, 9.6% in 2024, and 8.5% in the first quarter of 2025.
The most dramatic change was observed in the Seoul apartment market. The direct transaction ratio for Seoul apartments was 16.2% in 2022, higher than the national average, but it plummeted to 7.0% in 2023, 4.3% in 2024, and 2.9% in the first quarter of 2025. This is significantly lower than the national apartment direct transaction average (8.5%) and other housing types, indicating that direct transactions in the Seoul apartment market are virtually disappearing.
By housing type, as of the first quarter of this year, the direct transaction ratio for apartments (nationwide 8.5%, Seoul 2.9%) was the lowest, while multi-family homes maintained a relatively high direct transaction ratio of 27.2%, and officetels 30.7%. This reflects a tendency to prefer the safety of transactions through certified brokers rather than direct transactions between individuals, especially in Seoul, where high-priced apartments are concentrated, due to the large transaction amounts and complex issues of rights and taxes.
In fact, this tendency is clearly confirmed in the analysis by sales price range. The direct transaction ratio for contracts over 400 million won reached 14.1% in 2022 but significantly dropped to 6.6% in 2023, 5.6% in 2024, and 5.5% in the first quarter of 2025. This is more than half lower than the overall direct transaction ratio of 12.5% for all sales contracts in the first quarter of this year. This clearly shows that as the transaction amount increases, both buyers and sellers are more burdened by potential risks, and the tendency to seek expert assistance for safer transactions is intensifying.
Experts point out that the recent emergence of real estate-related fraud cases, such as jeonse fraud, as a social issue has heightened risk awareness in real estate transactions overall, and this has spread the psychology of seeking expert help for safe transactions in the sales market.
Additionally, real estate sales involve complex legal and administrative procedures such as registration, taxes, and loans, which increases the hesitation for direct transactions. Moreover, as the volatility and uncertainty of the real estate market increase, the tendency to prefer professional assistance from certified brokers to clarify accurate market price judgments, price negotiations, and responsibility for property defects is also analyzed as a major reason.
Lee Jae-yoon, CEO of Jiptos, said, "Although access to information through platforms has become unprecedentedly high, paradoxically, the inherent risks and complexities of high-value asset real estate transactions are also being highlighted," adding, "Especially for apartments with large transaction amounts and sensitive to market volatility, particularly Seoul apartments or high-priced housing, the fear of failure costs is heightened, making it seem reasonable to choose intermediary transactions with professionalism and safety over direct transactions."

ming@fnnews.com Jeon Min-kyung Reporter