“85% are paying monthly rent”—is this for real? ... A figure unseen in 15 years has emerged

[Financial News] Since March, monthly-rent transactions have accounted for more than half of Seoul’s apartment rental market. The share remained above 50% for seven consecutive months, through September, when the reporting deadline had passed. Now, areas where monthly-rent transactions account for more than 80% have emerged.
According to the Seoul Real Estate Information Plaza on the 5th, monthly-rent transactions accounted for 85.0% of apartment lease transactions in Seoul’s Jungnang-gu in September, based on the contract date. Given the 30-day reporting deadline, the statistics reflect most of September’s transactions.
In detail, there were 842 apartment lease transactions in Jungnang-gu in September, of which 716 were monthly-rent transactions. Statistics on apartment jeonse and monthly-rent transactions have been available since January 2011. This is the first time the monthly-rent share in any district has exceeded 80% in a given month.
Jungnang-gu has the lowest monthly rents in Seoul. It is the only district in Seoul where the average monthly rent is no more than 1 million won. As of today, the monthly-rent share in October has also reached 79.5%, raising the possibility that it could exceed 80% for two consecutive months.
Ko Jun-seok, a professor at Yonsei University, said, “The emergence of an area in Seoul where monthly-rent transactions account for more than 80% of apartment leases means that the shift to monthly rentals is happening far too quickly. Even if the decline of jeonse is a trend of the times, I’m concerned about whether the market can withstand it.” Chang-Moo Lee, a professor at Hanyang University, pointed out that “the expansion of land transaction permit zones and regulations on owners of multiple homes are fueling instability in the jeonse and monthly-rental market.”
According to Asil, listings for Seoul apartments for sale have topped 80,000. Rental listings, however, have increased only slightly. Amid a shortage of jeonse homes, the shift to monthly rentals is accelerating.
Meanwhile, monthly-rent transactions accounted for 55.3% of Seoul apartment lease transactions in September. On a monthly basis, this is only the second time Seoul’s average share of monthly-rent transactions has exceeded 55%, following 55.8% last June.
[email protected] Lee Jong-bae Reporter