Ultra-High Monthly Rents Surge in Seoul as Wealthy Rent Instead of Buy

Seoul’s average apartment rent has entered the 1.5 million won-a-month range for the first time, and the market for ultra-high monthly rents is expanding quickly this year, led by wealthy tenants. As the tax burden tied to owning expensive homes grows, more affluent households are opting to pay steep rents rather than buy, signaling a shift toward “occupying” prime housing without ownership.
 
According to transaction data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Seoul recorded 64 lease contracts with monthly rent of 10 million won or more from the start of this year through April 21, up 16.4% from 55 a year earlier.
 
The move upmarket is becoming clearer. New monthly-rent deals above 10 million won totaled 56, more than 33% higher than the same period last year (42). Contracts above 15 million won reached 23, up 35% from a year earlier.
 
Analysts say rents in the 10 million won range, once largely limited to large units in Seoul’s Gangnam area or ultra-luxury villas, are taking a bigger share as rent levels rise across the city. This year, an Acro Seoul Forest unit (198 square meters) was leased with a 500 million won deposit and 29 million won in monthly rent. Deals in the 20 million won range also continued, including Poses Hannam River (27 million won) and Aper Hannam River (25 million won).
 
Higher-end rents are also spreading beyond the very top of the market. In the broader category of contracts with monthly rent of 2 million won or more, the share has been rising not only in Seoul’s three Gangnam districts — Gangnam, Seocho and Songpa — but also in the “Ma-Yong-Seong” area of Mapo, Yongsan and Seongdong.
 
Of 3,744 new apartment monthly-rent contracts in the three Gangnam districts this year, 1,644 — or 43.9% — were for 2 million won or more, up 4.4 percentage points from 39.5% a year earlier.
 
In Seongdong, 367 of 806 contracts, or 45.5%, were 2 million won or more, higher than the Gangnam-district share. In Yongsan, 239 of 523 contracts, or 45.7%, were in that bracket, up 3.2 percentage points from a year earlier. Mapo’s share was lower at 29.3% — 270 of 921 contracts — but still up from 25.3% last year.
 
Experts attribute the expansion of high-end monthly rents to heavier taxation on multi-homeowners and tighter requirements tied to owner occupancy. With acquisition taxes and comprehensive real estate holding taxes adding to the cost of ownership, they say some wealthy households see it as advantageous to keep liquidity and pay high rent to live in top neighborhoods rather than tie up assets in property.
 
They also point to a clearer “tax pass-through” trend: As holding-tax burdens rise due to higher official assessed values and interest-rate increases, some landlords are converting lump-sum deposit leases into monthly-rent contracts or raising rents to shift costs to tenants. Experts say the rental market is being pushed upward overall, with wealthy tenants choosing ultra-high rents for risk management, while less affluent renters seeking apartments instead of villas run into limited supply and financing constraints and are driven toward higher monthly payments.

Park Won-gap, chief real estate expert at KB Kookmin Bank, said perceptions are changing, particularly among active seniors. “For wealthy people, owning a home has become a risk,” he said. “Paying a high monthly rent to maintain housing quality is emerging as a reasonable alternative, and that is expanding the high-end monthly-rent market.”