Consumer sentiment in Sejong's housing sales market surged for a second straight month, as plans to move a second batch of central government agencies to the city took clearer shape and raised expectations of higher home prices. Sentiment in the jeonse market, a lump-sum deposit lease, overtook Seoul to become the strongest in the country.
Sejong's housing sales sentiment index stood at 125.3 in September, up 12.4 points from the previous month, according to a consumer sentiment survey on the property market released by the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS) on the 15th. That ranked second nationwide after Seoul at 130.8. The index had already risen 11.4 points in August to 112.9 from 101.5 in July, bringing the two-month gain to 23.8 points and lifting the market out of a flat phase into an upturn, defined as a reading of 115 or higher. Jeonse sentiment was even stronger. Sejong's housing jeonse sentiment index came in at 125.0, up 5.8 points from a month earlier and the highest in the country, 2.2 points above second-ranked Seoul at 122.8.
The gains are attributed to the government's announcement on the 3rd of last month of its plan for a second round of central government agency relocations. Sentiment is likely to strengthen further after the government unveiled a detailed plan on the 13th of this month to move 44 agencies and 9,929 public officials to Sejong by 2031. Next year alone, 27 agencies and 2,995 officials are set to relocate.
Transactions also increased. Sejong recorded 509 apartment sales in September, up 56.6% from 325 the previous month, according to property big-data provider Asil. Prices have begun to warm as well. Sejong apartment sale prices rose 0.02% in the second week of this month, as of the 12th, turning higher after a week of declines, while jeonse prices jumped 0.24%, widening their gain, according to the Korea Real Estate Board.
In Seoul, sales sentiment slipped for a second consecutive month but remained in an upturn. The city's housing sales sentiment index fell 1.7 points to 130.8 from 132.5 the previous month, extending a decline that began after a July peak of 139.9. Its jeonse index, by contrast, rose 2.1 points to 122.8. Nationwide, the housing sales index gained 0.6 point to 117.3. The index for the greater Seoul area fell 0.7 point to 124.9, while the reading for regions outside the capital area rose 1.9 points to 108.4.