Commercial building transactions plunge to 2008 levels in Seoul

[Photo by Lee Chung-woo]

With the transaction cliff in the real estate market deepening, commercial building deals in Seoul, Korea have plummeted by double digits, nearing the level of 2008 when the global financial crisis hit the country, according to government data on Tuesday.

The data analyzed by Realty Planet show that the number of commercial and office building transactions in the capital during the month of October came to only 80 cases, down by nearly 70 percent from 262 cases a year earlier.

The figure is the first double-digit drop in trading volume in 13 years after falling to below 100 per month for four months from October 2008 to January 2009 due to the market impact from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

By region, Gangnam/Seocho had the largest decrease in transactions, with only 15 deals in October, which is down by 74.6 percent from 59 cases in the same month of last year.

This is the largest decrease among the three major business districts in Seoul. The comparable figure for Jung/Jongno and Yeongdeungpo/Mapo dropped by 71.7 percent and 68.4 percent, respectively.

Sales of commercial and office buildings in Seoul totaled 1.36 trillion won last month, down 34.3 percent from a year ago’s 2.7 trillion won, the second smallest after September this year when it reached 1.47 trillion won.