Nationwide high-risk unsold homes after completion exceed 30,000 units

The number of unsold homes after completion has exceeded 30,000 units for the first time in 14 years. The increase has been steep, and about 86% of this problematic inventory is concentrated in non-metropolitan areas where housing demand has not recovered, creating a structural issue.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 31st, there were 66,208 unsold housing units nationwide as of the end of February, down 0.6% from the previous month. In contrast, unsold homes after completion rose to 31,307 units, up 5.9% from a month earlier. This is the first time since December 2011, when the impact of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was still lingering, that unsold homes after completion have surpassed 30,000 units.
Unsold homes after completion have been climbing sharply in recent years. The volume stood at 7,518 units at the end of 2022, then increased to 10,857 units at the end of 2023 and 21,480 units at the end of 2024. By the end of last year, it had expanded further to 28,641 units. In just a little over three years, the volume has more than quadrupled, signaling a phase of structurally accumulating inventory.
While the total number of unsold homes has declined, unsold units after completion continue to pile up, pointing to a "deterioration in quality" of the remaining inventory. Industry officials interpret this as the result of a weakened housing demand base, driven by high interest rates and rising pre-sale prices.
By region, the concentration in non-metropolitan areas is particularly striking. Unsold homes after completion in these regions totaled 27,015 units, accounting for 86.3% of the nationwide figure.
Experts say this is a structural backlog created as projects launched during past boom years have run into the current real estate downturn.
Lee Eun-hyeong, a research fellow at the Korea Research Institute for Construction Policy (RICON), said, "The current unsold inventory is the delayed outcome of projects that were pushed forward when market conditions were favorable in the past," adding, "There are few effective policies to stimulate demand that could absorb unsold homes in non-metropolitan areas, and under current conditions it is structurally difficult to find a clear solution."
en1302@fnnews.com Jang In-seo Reporter