Apartment sales see a slide in September due to Chuseok

Housing sales slowed in September from a year earlier due to fewer business days this month and the Chuseok holiday, government data showed.

Data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport showed Sunday that the number of houses sold in September stood at 86,152, shrinking 0.6 percent from the same period last year.

“There seemed to be many contracts delayed in October due to the Chuseok holiday last month,” said a Land Ministry official.

Still, sales in the Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi area continued at a rising pace. The number of newly signed housing contracts in the region grew 6.8 percent year on year to 45,932 in total.

Rather than residential apartments, many homebuyers preferred multi-family or single-family houses in September, data showed.

Policy makers said a hike in jeonse (lump-sum deposit) prices for apartments stimulated demand for multi-household units, which are relatively cheaper than apartments in Korea, rising by 18.1 percent.

Sales for apartments dipped 9.4 percent from a year ago.