They spent 8 percent more of their own money or 54.18 trillion won (US$40.8 billion). Buyers relying on their own funds accounted for 66.8 percent of all apartment buyers, up from 58.4 percent a year earlier.
The increase came even as the total amount spent on apartment purchases in Seoul fell 5.6 percent to 81.07 trillion won.
The figures were based on data on Seoul apartment purchases from October 2025 to September 2026 submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to lawmaker Yoon Jong-oh of the left-wing Progressive Party.
Most buyers used savings, family gifts and other assets to pay for their apartments. Money from selling stocks, bonds and cryptocurrency more than doubled to 6.24 trillion won from 2.75 trillion won, up 126.6 percent.
Money from gifts and inheritances rose 56.4 percent to 5.24 trillion won from 3.35 trillion won, while the total funds from these sources used for apartment purchases rose to 11.48 trillion won from 6.11 trillion won a year earlier.
Loans, meanwhile, fell 6.8 percent to 19.08 trillion won from 20.48 trillion won a year earlier.
Their purchases were concentrated in Seoul's three affluent districts of Gangnam, Seocho and Songpa, south of the Han River. Money from financial asset sales in these districts rose 131.6 percent to 2.90 trillion won from 1.25 trillion won a year earlier, accounting for 46.5 percent of the total.
Their purchases largely took place after the government introduced tighter mortgage rules on Oct. 15 last year, designating all of Seoul and 12 areas in Gyeonggi Province as speculative real-estate zones and imposing stricter loan limits on higher-priced homes.
Under the rules, the maximum loan is 600 million won for homes worth up to 1.5 billion won, 400 million won for homes worth 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion won, and 200 million won for homes worth more than 2.5 billion won.
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