[Economy pick] House prices are on the rise...Is the trend changing?

[Anchor]
: House prices are rising, are trends changing? How many weeks has the rise in housing prices been slowing down?

[Reporter]
Yes, it is.

House prices, to be precise, apartment prices, the last week of September, this week, compiled by the Korea Real Estate Agency.

The statistics on apartment prices came out yesterday, and for now, the upward trend has been maintained.

Apartment prices in Seoul have risen for 28 consecutive weeks, but the rate of increase compared to the previous week has decreased further.

is up 0.1%:

In Seoul, apartment prices rose 0.32% in the second week of August, the highest increase in five years and 11 months, but have been weakening since the second week of last month as the rise continued to decrease.

Gangnam, Seocho, Gwangjin-gu, and Mapo and Seodaemun-gu showed higher-than-average growth rates, while Dobong, Geumcheon, and Gwanak-gu showed only a low growth rate of nearly 0%.

Not only Seoul, but also the metropolitan area, provinces, and the whole country showed a lower rate of increase.

[Anchor]
The rise in apartment prices seems to be calming down a bit, but the transaction volume has also declined, right?

[Reporter]
That's right.

The trading volume of apartments in Seoul, which had increased to a crushing extent, has declined since August, and is expected to decrease further in September.

The trading volume of apartments in Seoul increased rapidly after exceeding 4,000 in March, reaching 8,700 in July, but decreased to 6,700 in August.

And there are currently fewer than 1,800 transactions in September,
Even if
is completed by the end of this month, it is likely to decrease significantly again from August.

Since transaction volume is one of the leading indicators for gauging house prices, it is observed that the rise in apartment prices is likely to weaken.

[Anchor]
So, the price of the apartment, what's going to happen in the future is my concern, what's going to happen?

[Reporter]
Regarding the reason for the slowdown in the rise in housing prices, the Korea Real Estate Agency explained, "Although the desired selling price of major complexes is showing downward rigidity, the buying sentiment is dampened by loan regulations and accumulated short-term surge fatigue."

In short, the seller rarely calls the asking price low, but from the buyer's point of view, it is difficult to make a pursuit purchase due to loan regulations, etc.

Experts believe that the two variables in future house price trends are interest rate fluctuations and the government's loan regulation policy, which will be affected more by the effect of interest rate fluctuations.

Let's listen to the expert for a second.

[Kwon Dae-jung / Professor of Sogang University Graduate School: After all, the price slowed down a little because there was not enough liquidity to flow into the real estate market. Even if interest rates are cut in the long run, if the government continues to regulate loans, real estate prices could remain strong until the end of the year and then fall if they continue to regulate them until the first half of next year.]