Seoul real estate market — prices, rental yield and trend
- Price basis: local-market average
Seoul is one of the 123 property markets Glopra tracks.
What it earns
We publish a price for Seoul but no rental yield. No public rent figure exists for this market at the same geographic level and from the same source as the price, and we do not estimate one: a yield built from two unrelated sources would describe no real property.
How the tax works. Non-resident individual owning ONE Korean home and letting it long term: the rental income is NOT taxable. Legal basis: Income Tax Act (소득세법) Art. 12(2)(b) — housing rental income of a person who owns one house is non-taxable, except where the official assessed value (기준시가) exceeds KRW 1.2bn or the house is located abroad. The National Tax Service ruling 기준-2020-법령해석소득-0076 (3 April 2020) confirms that this exemption applies to non-residents exactly as it does to residents, and that a non-resident's houses located outside Korea are not counted towards the house count. If the condition fails (two or more Korean homes, or assessed value above KRW 1.2bn), rental income is taxed comprehensively under Art. 121(2): progressive 6-45% plus a 10% local surtax, with no personal allowances beyond the taxpayer's own — we deliberately leave the upper bound of the range empty rather than estimate it. Assessed values in Seoul typically run at 60-70% of market price, so an average Seoul apartment stays well below the KRW 1.2bn threshold. Jeonse deposits can create a separate deemed-rent tax base; our reference case is a monthly-rent (wolse) letting. Source: Korean Law Information Center (law.go.kr) statutory text and the NTS ruling, retrieved 2026-09-20.
Who can buy in Seoul
Full ownership; prior permit required in the Seoul capital region. That is the rule a foreign buyer meets first, not legal advice — check the current position locally before you commit.
How this figure is built
The price figure for Seoul is built from asking prices from listings. It was last refreshed on 2026-09-20. We rate our confidence in this market’s data medium: the series is usable, but thinner or less current than our best-covered markets. We recompute every market the same way, which is what lets Seoul be compared with a country average or another city.
Sources: Seoul Economic Daily (KB Real Estate survey, August 2026) · en.sedaily.com · law.go.kr · casenote.kr · kedglobal.com · api.frankfurter.dev. Snapshot: 2026-09-20.
Latest Seoul market analysis
- Seoul apartment prices rise for an 85th week while the Gangnam districts turn negative — 2026-09-25
- South Korea Plans 1.19 Million Public Homes by 2030, With 77% in the Seoul Area — 2026-09-22
- South Korea Adds 230,000 Homes to Its Seoul-Region Supply Plan — 2026-08-15
Related markets: South Korea