Seoul’s market for low-rise multi-unit housing is stirring again. Demand is shifting toward non-apartment homes, which carry lower entry prices, as apartment values surge. Government moves to ease construction rules and expand financing, along with Seoul’s push to accelerate redevelopment, are adding momentum. Drawing particular attention is the return of what Koreans call “mom-tech” — living in an aging low-rise unit while waiting for redevelopment to deliver a new apartment. Experts caution, however, that buyers should be selective and weigh redevelopment prospects, land share and project stage rather than count on price gains in the units themselves.
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Seoul’s low-rise multi-unit housing market showed a clear recovery in the second quarter. Real estate data provider Real Estate Planet analyzed Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport transaction records and found 11,536 sales worth 4.9346 trillion won in the second quarter. Transaction volume rose 11.7% from the previous quarter and the value climbed 12.1%. Against the second quarter of last year, volume was up 24.4% and value up 31.1%. Volume was the highest since the third quarter of 2021 and value the highest since the second quarter of 2021.
Nowon-gu posted the largest quarterly gain in transaction volume at 43.9%, followed by Gangbuk-gu at 42.5%, Dobong-gu at 38.4%, Geumcheon-gu at 35.5% and Guro-gu at 32.9%. Transaction value also jumped sharply in outlying districts, rising 61.1% in Nowon-gu, 59.3% in Dobong-gu, 56.4% in Gangbuk-gu, 44.5% in Geumcheon-gu and 43.6% in Jungnang-gu.
The shift reflects owner-occupier buyers and investors turning to non-apartment homes with lower entry prices after apartment values climbed steeply. Buyers in their 20s and 30s who lack the funds for an apartment are choosing low-rise units, and more are seeking out areas where redevelopment could eventually deliver an apartment.
Government policy is reinforcing the trend.
Under the Aug. 13 housing supply acceleration plan, the government will support the start of construction on 130,000 general housing units, including officetels — studio units used as either a home or an office — in the greater Seoul area by 2030. The building-area limit for multi-unit and multi-family houses will be raised from the current 660 square meters to under 1,000 square meters, and the floor limit for multi-family houses will be eased from three floors to four or fewer. The government expects adding one floor on the same lot to increase the number of units by about 33%.
Sunlight-access rules will also be relaxed. Sections of a building between 10 and 17 meters high will need to sit only 5 meters from the adjacent lot, improving the usability of upper floors. The lending cap for construction of multi-unit and multi-family houses will rise from 70 million won to 90 million won, with the interest rate cut from 3.5% to 3.2% a year.
Support is coming for buyers as well. The Financial Services Commission plans to launch a youth future housing loan in January 2027. First-time buyers aged 39 or younger with income of 70 million won or less will be able to borrow up to 80% of the value of a non-apartment home priced at 400 million won or less with a floor area of 85 square meters or less. Because 97% of housing loans extended to young borrowers in 2025 went toward apartment purchases, the aim is to use policy finance to broaden demand toward low-rise units and officetels.
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The catch is that low-rise units do not move like apartments.
Apartments trade repeatedly within the same complex, making price comparison straightforward. Low-rise units vary widely in price depending on completion year, land share, road frontage, number of floors and parking. Thin trading also makes fair value hard to gauge. That is why officetels have posted limited gains even when apartment prices surged, and low-rise multi-unit homes often less than that.
Whether the latest deregulation turns low-rise housing as a whole into a capital-gains asset therefore remains uncertain. Analysts say the better frame is not “investing in a low-rise unit” but “investing in land with redevelopment potential.”
Apartments and low-rise units are also treated differently under the land transaction permit system. In the permit zones now covering apartments across Seoul, ordinary low-rise multi-unit homes are not uniformly subject to permission as apartments are. As a result, ordinary low-rise units trade relatively freely even inside apartment permit zones.
Areas designated as permit zones separately, such as candidate sites for fast-track redevelopment or Moa Town projects, are different. In those cases low-rise multi-unit homes can require permission. Rather than assuming low-rise units are exempt, investors need to check why a given area was designated a permit zone.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon tours the Seogye-dong and Cheongpa-dong area of Seoul’s Yongsan district on Nov. 11, where privately led redevelopment projects chosen by residents, including fast-track integrated planning redevelopment and Moa Town schemes, are under way. Yonhap News
The most important factor is the prospect of a redevelopment project.
Seoul is using its fast-track planning program to turn aging low-rise residential areas into new apartment-centered complexes. As of July this year, 309 sites across Seoul were covered by the program, and planning had been completed for 191 of them. Of those, 141 sites, or 70%, have already been designated redevelopment districts.
Institutional changes to speed up projects are continuing. Through fast-track planning, Seoul aims to cut the time from candidate-site selection to completion from an average of 18.5 years to about 12.
The ruling party and the government are also pursuing a plan to expand the licensing authority of district mayors so that projects of 500 units or fewer can move faster. Quicker approvals for small-scale projects could affect the viability of areas dense with aging low-rise housing.
Selection as a candidate site does not mean a project is settled, however. Buyers must also examine the project stage, the rights assessment cutoff date, whether the area is a land transaction permit zone and eligibility for a union member’s allocation.
In the Gangnam area, where non-apartment prices are already relatively high, the appropriate approach is to look at low-rise residential pockets with potential to become upscale housing rather than to expect simple price gains.
Yangjae-dong in Seocho-gu offers strong access to transport and office facilities around Yangjae Station, and its Gangnam location is itself an advantage. But land prices are high, so initial purchase price and land share require close scrutiny.
In Songpa-gu, Samjeon-dong and Seokchon-dong are drawing interest. Both share the Jamsil catchment area while still containing low-rise residential pockets that can be entered at prices below apartments. If redevelopment materializes, they could be transformed into housing linked to Jamsil’s upscale complexes.
In Gangnam-gu, Nonhyeon-dong and Gaepo-dong are also worth watching. Nonhyeon-dong in particular sits close to Gangnam’s business and commercial facilities and retains low-rise housing, which could highlight its redevelopment value. Land prices in these areas are already high, however, so the focus should be on land share and project viability rather than buying cheap for a large gain.
For investors trying to hold down initial outlays, outlying districts can be a realistic option.
Geumcheon-gu is a prime example of an undervalued area. Moa Town and fast-track planning projects are under way around Siheung-dong and Doksan-dong, adding to redevelopment expectations.
Guro-gu also merits attention. The area around 466 Guro-dong is set to be transformed into a residential complex of up to 40 floors and about 1,500 units through fast-track planning. Its zoning will be raised by up to two levels and a project viability adjustment coefficient of 2.0 applied to improve the economics.
In Eunpyeong-gu, the area around 510-1 Galhyeon-dong has been selected as a fast-track candidate site, as has the area around 32 Guui-dong in Gwangjin-gu. Resident consent in Gwangjin-gu reached 73%.
Dongjak-gu is also worth a look. Its second-quarter turnover rate for low-rise multi-unit housing was 1.71%, the second highest in Seoul after Gwangjin-gu’s 1.73%. That indicates real investment demand is moving.
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Selective Approach Focused on Transit-Adjacent Areas Advised
In the end, low-rise investing also comes down to picking a good property and buying it cheaply. Land share matters most of all.
Two units both priced at 300 million won can end up worth very different amounts in redevelopment if one carries a 10-square-meter land share and the other 30. Road frontage, inclusion in a redevelopment district, the rights assessment cutoff date and eligibility for a union member’s allocation all need to be verified.
The jeonse-to-price ratio also warrants checking. The average for Seoul low-rise multi-unit housing in the second quarter was 60.8%. A jeonse lease — under which tenants pay a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent — can reduce the initial cash needed, but the risk of having to return the deposit must be weighed. Monthly-rent leases accounted for 61.4% of transactions, making investment that relies solely on jeonse leverage harder than in the past.
That points to the need for caution. Nam Hyuk-woo, a researcher at Woori Bank’s real estate research institute, said redevelopment does look attractive given expectations for higher floor area ratios along with policy and tax factors. “But in many cases a premium forms purely on word of mouth that a project will soon get moving or at least win district designation, rather than on projects that are actually progressing or have secured designation, so buyers need to be selective,” Nam said. He also noted that eased requirements for new construction could break the aging-building thresholds and lead to district designations being revoked. “The approach should center on places where the economics work and on transit-adjacent areas,” Nam said.