Busan Home Prices Stay Flat, but the “Standard” 84-Square-Meter Unit Reaches KRW 1.77 Billion—Only Flagship Complexes Are Surging

[Financial News] While apartment prices across Busan remain virtually flat, an 84-square-meter apartment in Namcheon-dong, Suyeong District, sold for KRW 1.77 billion. Analysts say that as investment restrictions on Seoul apartments have tightened, demand from wealthy Busan investors is shifting toward prime areas such as Suyeong and Haeundae districts.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s (MOLIT) transaction database on the 17th, an 84-square-meter unit at Namcheon Xi in Namcheon-dong, Suyeong District, changed hands for KRW 1.77 billion on the 5th. The complex previously recorded a transaction at KRW 1.475 billion on September 9 last year, representing an increase of roughly KRW 300 million in one year. Current asking prices have reached as high as KRW 1.86 billion.
Namcheon Xi attracted considerable attention from the time it was launched because it is a new complex in Suyeong District with views of Gwangan Bridge. Its subscription offering drew an average competition rate of 53.77 to 1, with the highest rate reaching 481 to 1. Although its initial contract rate stood at just 37% amid high presale prices and a property market downturn, the complex later sold out. The recent record-high transaction has further reversed the mood.
The Busan housing market is showing a clear pattern of price increases centered on new and luxury complexes in eastern Busan, including Suyeong and Haeundae districts.
Summit Limited Namcheon also recorded an average presale price of KRW 51.91 million per 3.3 square meters, the highest level ever seen in Busan. Despite controversy over its high price, all units were recently contracted. In the first-priority subscription, 16,286 people applied for 720 units, producing an average competition rate of 22.62 to 1. The highest rate for the exclusive 84-square-meter B type reached 349.17 to 1.
However, the upswing appears to be concentrated in a handful of complexes. In fact, apartment prices across Busan have not shown a clear upward trend. According to the Korea Real Estate Board’s monthly apartment sales price index, Busan’s index rose only 0.04 points, from 99.86 in January to 99.90 in August this year, remaining virtually flat.
By contrast, Haeundae District rose 2.12 points during the same period, from 98.20 to 100.32. Suyeong District also climbed 0.55 points, from 99.33 to 99.88, slightly outperforming the Busan average.
Local real estate brokers are also noticing fewer distressed listings and rising asking prices, particularly at major complexes in Suyeong District. A licensed real estate agent in Suyeong District said, "There were many distressed listings until recently, but as transactions began, preferred properties disappeared and asking prices started to rise." Another nearby agent added, "We need to watch how much prices become concentrated in prime areas and preferred complexes. The key question is whether follow-up transactions in the KRW 1.7 billion range will continue." Experts said it would be difficult to interpret record-high transactions at a few complexes as a signal of rising prices across Busan or as an effect of public-institution relocation.
Ko Jun-seok, a professor at Sangnam Institute of Management, Yonsei University, noted, "In the past, financially capable buyers in provincial areas could invest in Seoul apartments using a jeonse deposit. Now that such investments have become more difficult, demand is flowing toward prime neighborhoods and complexes within their own regions."
Professor Ko continued, "Busan is a market with substantial housing supply and a considerable number of unsold homes." He added, "Rather than describing this as a polarization between Busan as a whole and certain areas, it should be viewed as a phenomenon in which demand is concentrated only in popular areas and complexes, such as Suyeong and Haeundae districts."

[email protected] Choi A-young Reporter