Residents of southern Gyeonggi Province are stepping up purchases of homes in more expensive districts, lifted by the semiconductor industry's boom. Buyers living in Suwon's Yeongtong district, Yongin's Giheung district and Hwaseong increased their property purchases in Seongnam's Bundang district and Seoul's Songpa district by more than 25% over the past year, a rate more than 10 times the overall growth in buyers. The shift is attributed to growing expectations for Samsung Electronics' special performance bonuses and an expanded in-house housing loan program, combined with price gains in residential areas near chip plants that have prompted households to move.
Data compiled by the Supreme Court's registration information service showed that 1,354 buyers with addresses in Yeongtong, Giheung or Hwaseong purchased collective buildings in Bundang or Songpa during the first nine months of this year, the court said on the 19th. That was up 272 from 1,082 a year earlier, a 25.1% increase. Total buyers of collective buildings in the two districts rose just 2.3% over the same period, to 20,090 from 19,640.
Bundang saw the sharpest pickup. Purchases there by Yeongtong, Giheung and Hwaseong residents climbed 27.1% to 991 from 780 a year earlier. Their share of all buyers rose 2.3 percentage points to 10.6% from 8.3%. Over the same period, Bundang residents buying collective buildings within their own district fell 6.2% to 4,677 from 4,984.
Purchases in Songpa by southern Gyeonggi residents also grew. Buyers from Yeongtong, Giheung and Hwaseong rose 20.2% to 363 from 302. Yeongtong buyers increased 13.6% to 117 from 103, while Hwaseong buyers jumped 49.5% to 151 from 101. By contrast, Songpa's total buyer count rose only 4.1%. Hwaseong residents' combined purchases in Bundang and Songpa surged 41.8% to 522 from 368, outpacing Yeongtong and Giheung.
Behind the trend is greater financial capacity among chipmaker employees. Samsung Electronics' management and union agreed in May to set aside 10.5% of the device solutions division's business performance as a special bonus pool. The union estimated that memory business employees could receive about 750 million won before taxes, including the existing overall performance incentive.
"The bonuses will actually be paid in installments from late March or early April next year, but many employees came in to sign contracts with their final payment dates set for then," an agent at a Bundang brokerage said. "Expectations are high, so prices are getting jumpy." An in-house loan program Samsung Electronics introduced in September is another factor boosting purchasing power. It allows employees who do not own a home to borrow up to 500 million won at an annual rate of 1.5% to buy a house.
Steep price gains in their current neighborhoods are also supporting the moves. Weekly apartment price data from the Korea Real Estate Board for the second week of October, based on the 12th, showed Suwon's Yeongtong district up 16.19% so far this year, far above the 2.39% recorded in the same week last year. Yongin's Giheung district accelerated to 13.95% from 0.06% a year earlier. Hwaseong's Dongtan district, tracked separately since February, posted a cumulative gain of 20.14%. Rising values of their existing homes have given owners the means to sell and move into Bundang or Songpa.
Bundang and Songpa, where demand is concentrating, share easy commutes to chip plants along with strong schools, transit and other amenities. Bundang is highly accessible from existing residential areas including Suwon's Yeongtong, Yongin's Giheung and Hwaseong's Dongtan. Songpa, including Jamsil, packs school districts, transit and retail into major residential neighborhoods. Locations convenient for chipmakers' commuter shuttles — dubbed "shuttle-adjacent" in a play on the Korean term for areas near subway stations — are another draw.
Actual transaction prices confirm the upward trend. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport data showed a 117-square-meter unit at Pangyo Prugio Grand Blu in Baekhyeon-dong, Bundang district, Seongnam, sold for 3.45 billion won last September and for 4.18 billion won in May this year, a gap of 730 million won. An 84-square-meter unit at Yangji Village Kumho 1 in Sunae-dong, Bundang, rose 340 million won to 2.39 billion won in July from 2.05 billion won last September. An 84-square-meter unit at Helio City in Garak-dong, Songpa district, Seoul, climbed 150 million won to 3.1 billion won in August from 2.95 billion won in July last year.
Analysts are watching whether the relocation wave that began in southern Gyeonggi could underpin prices across major parts of the greater Seoul area. "Buyers who sold their existing homes in southern Gyeonggi are trading up in a chain reaction, and that is keeping prices firm in Bundang and other major residential areas," said Nam Hyuk-woo, a real estate researcher at Woori Bank. "The liquidity inflow that started in Suwon could, over the medium to long term, strengthen the downward rigidity of home prices in the greater Seoul area, centered on homes priced at 2.5 billion won or less, which qualify for Samsung Electronics' in-house loans."