Jeju Province Has Nation’s Highest Jeonse Deposit-Guarantee Accident Rate at 4.6%; Auctions Reach 18-Year High

【Financial News Jeju=Yong-bok Jeong】 While the number of jeonse deposit-guarantee accidents has plunged nationwide, Jeju Province is recording the country’s highest rate of unpaid deposits. Last year, its reimbursement rate for jeonse guarantees from the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) was also the lowest nationwide.
According to the Korea Real Estate Board’s Real Estate Tech “Rental Market Siren,” Jeju Province recorded 11 jeonse deposit-return guarantee accidents worth 2.453 billion won last July.
The accident rate was 4.6%, or 5.1 times the national average of 0.9%. It was the highest among the country’s 17 cities and provinces.
The jeonse deposit-guarantee accident rate does not mean that 4.6% of tenants failed to recover their deposits. It is the proportion of guarantee-covered amounts that landlords failed to return and that were therefore classified as guarantee accidents, among guarantee products reaching the end of their coverage period that month.
Jeju Province recorded high accident rates of 5.4% in May, 5.0% in June and 4.6% in July, remaining around 5% for three consecutive months. The national averages during the same period were 1.1%, 1.0% and 0.9%, respectively. Although Jeju’s rate is declining, the gap with the national average is becoming even more pronounced.
From January through July this year, Jeju Province recorded a cumulative 131 guarantee accidents worth 25.294 billion won. The trend differs sharply from the national picture. HUG’s jeonse deposit-return guarantee accidents fell 68.1%, from 20,941 in 2024 to 6,677 last year. The value of accidents from January through April this year also declined 53.1% to 269.3 billion won from 574.3 billion won during the same period last year. The number of accidents fell 51.6%, from 2,994 to 1,450.
The nationwide decline is attributed to reduced reverse-jeonse burdens as jeonse prices recovered, along with stricter guarantee-eligibility standards. Although the scale of accidents is falling rapidly nationwide, Jeju’s monthly rate has recently remained around five times the national average.
Regional disparities were also evident in the actual payment of deposits after guarantee accidents. According to data HUG submitted to the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, 64 tenants in Jeju Province experienced jeonse deposit-return guarantee accidents last year. By the time the data was submitted, 44 had received reimbursement, putting the rate at 68.8%, the lowest among the country’s 17 cities and provinces. The national average was 80.1%.
The remaining 20 tenants had not yet completed the reimbursement process at that time. However, they cannot be considered final victims who received no reimbursement. HUG reimbursements proceed alongside procedures such as the tenant’s relocation and handover of the property, so payments may have been made after the data was compiled.
Separately from the rental market, the number of properties put up for court auction in Jeju Province has also surged.
According to GG Auction’s August auction trends report, 945 auctions were held at Jeju District Court last month. The figure exceeded 900 for three consecutive months, following 902 cases in June and 927 in July. It was the highest level in about 18 years, since 1,014 cases in October 2008.
Although the number of auction properties increased, the share finding new owners was low. Of the 945 cases, 160 resulted in successful bids, putting the auction success rate at 16.9%. That was 4.9 percentage points below the national average of 21.8%.
The winning-bid-to-appraisal ratio was 47.0%, 9.7 percentage points below the national average of 56.7%. The average number of bidders was also 2.1 per property, below the national figure of 3.0. The overall winning-bid-to-appraisal ratio of 47.0% covers all auction properties, including land, lodging facilities, officetels and commercial properties, as well as homes.
Among 224 residential properties, 63 received successful bids, producing an auction success rate of 28.1% and a winning-bid-to-appraisal ratio of 55.7%. Thirty-three apartments went to auction, including 30 in Jeju City and three in Seogwipo City. This was the highest number in two years and seven months, since 52 cases in January 2024. The figure was also significantly affected by 14 properties in one apartment complex in Doryeon-dong, Jeju City, going to auction at once.
Eight of the 33 apartments received successful bids, resulting in an auction success rate of 24.2% and a winning-bid-to-appraisal ratio of 82.5%. Among 256 business and commercial properties, only 30 received successful bids, producing an auction success rate of 11.7% and a winning-bid-to-appraisal ratio of 45.5%. Of 459 land properties, 64 received successful bids, resulting in an auction success rate of 13.9% and a winning-bid-to-appraisal ratio of 41.4%.
The increase in jeonse deposit-guarantee accidents and the rise in auctions cannot be attributed to a single cause. Jeonse deposit-guarantee accidents count cases in which deposits were not returned after rental contracts ended. Court auctions include various assets brought into proceedings because of debt problems, including land, commercial properties and lodging facilities, as well as homes.
Nevertheless, the fact that Jeju Province recorded the nation’s highest jeonse deposit-guarantee accident rate, the lowest HUG reimbursement rate and the largest number of auction properties in 18 years around the same time highlights different vulnerabilities in Jeju’s real estate market.
Jeonse fraud victims continue to emerge as well. A cumulative 149 cases in Jeju Province have been recognized as victims after review by the Jeju Jeonse Fraud Victim Support Committee. People in their 30s accounted for 50 cases and those in their 40s for 38, meaning people in their 30s and 40s made up 59.0% of the total.
Officetels accounted for the largest number of affected homes, with 60 cases. They were followed by detached and multi-unit homes with 37 cases, row houses with 15, multi-family homes with 14 and apartments with 10.
Jeju Province continues to provide guarantee-fee support to tenants without homes who have enrolled in jeonse deposit-return guarantees. Last year, it provided 122.68 million won to 512 households; through July this year, it had provided 73.95 million won to 288 households.


[email protected] Yong-bok Jeong Reporter