Demand for Core Urban Living Areas Is Evident... Which Complexes Will Be Supplied in the Second Half of the Year?

[Financial News] Demand is growing for homes in city centers. Even within the same city, residential preferences are increasingly focused on core living areas where transportation, administrative and business functions, and commercial districts are concentrated. According to the real estate industry on the 29th, Yongsan District, Seoul, is undergoing major changes as large-scale development projects are added to its existing downtown functions. The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to create a mixed-use city combining business, commercial, residential, and green spaces on the approximately 495,000-square-meter site of the Yongsan International Business District (YIBD).
In Busan, Yeonje District is considered a core living area with both administrative and transportation functions. This began in 1998, when Busan City Hall left Daecheong-dong in Jung-gu and opened a new government building in Yeonsan-dong. Since then, the area around Geoje-dong has become a legal district, with the High Court, District Court, High Prosecutors' Office, and District Prosecutors' Office concentrated there.
In Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, the area around Dongtan Station has established itself as a core living area with transportation, commercial, and administrative functions. Metropolitan transportation conditions improved after the SRT, with the Suseo-Dongtan section of the Metropolitan Area Rapid Transit Line A (GTX-A) opening in March 2024. Living infrastructure, including large commercial facilities, has also expanded. 
Demand for core living areas is also evident in actual transactions. An exclusive-use 84-square-meter unit at 'Reikaunti' in Yeonje District, Busan, was traded for 1.19 billion won this August. In Daejeon, an exclusive-use 114-square-meter unit at 'Keuroba' changed hands for 1.68 billion won in September, setting a record high. Record-high transactions also followed in the area around Dongtan Station. An exclusive-use 84-square-meter unit at 'Dongtan Station Lotte Castle' changed hands for 2.225 billion won last June, setting a new record.
Attention is also turning to major urban core living areas where housing will be supplied in the second half of this year. In Yeonsan-dong, Yeonje District, Busan, GS Engineering & Construction is scheduled to launch 'Yeonje Gallery Xi' for sale in October this year. The complex will comprise 499 units across three buildings, with four basement levels and up to 43 above-ground floors. Each unit will have an exclusive-use area of 84 square meters. The Xi apartment brand, renewed for the first time in 22 years, will be introduced in Busan for the first time.
A 997-unit residential complex is scheduled to be built on the site of Asea Apartment in Hangangno 3(sam)-ga, Yongsan District, Seoul. It will provide new housing in central Yongsan District, where large-scale development projects, including the YIBD, are underway.

[email protected] Kwon Jun-ho Reporter