Of 172,027 jeonse (Korea's lump-sum deposit lease) and monthly rent deals on Seoul apartments from January to September this year, 87,740 were monthly rent, a 51.0% share. Monthly rent has never made up more than half of a full year since the Seoul Real Estate Information Plaza began tallying in 2011, so at this pace this year looks set to be the first.
At first glance it looks as if renters moved en masse to monthly rent. But monthly rent deals actually fell 2.8% over the same period. What pushed up the share was the disappearance of about 32,000 jeonse deals, a 27.5% drop. The key point is not that monthly rent grew but that the jeonse option shrank.
- The 51% monthly-rent share does not come from monthly rent growing
| Category | Jan–Sept 2025 | Jan–Sept 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly-rent deals | 90,310 | 87,740 | -2.8% |
| Jeonse deals | 116,272 | 84,287 | -27.5% |
| Monthly-rent share | 43.7% | 51.0% | +7.3%p |
Jeonse deals fell by 31,985 and monthly rent deals by 2,570. With total deals shrinking, the share of monthly rent, which fell by less, grew on its own.
Put simply, it is like a class shrinking in size while one study group stays almost the same, so that group's proportion gets bigger. Note that these deal counts are reference figures compiled from reports by contract date, so they may change with late filings or canceled contracts.
- The 32,000 vanished jeonse deals did not move to monthly rent
If all 32,000 jeonse deals had turned into monthly rent, monthly rent deals should have risen by that much. But monthly rent fell too, and combined jeonse and monthly rent deals dropped by 34,555, from 206,582 to 172,027.
Across Seoul as a whole, it is closer to fewer jeonse contracts being signed than to jeonse renters switching to monthly rent. Listings, meaning homes on the market for jeonse, have also shrunk. According to data from the real estate big-data firm Asil, reported by Newsis on Sept. 12, Seoul apartment jeonse listings stood at 20,357, down 12.2% from a year earlier. Transaction statistics alone cannot tell where those renters went. Kwon Dae-joong, an endowed professor in the Department of Economics and Real Estate at Hansung University, said that if jeonse prices and interest rates stay high, the shift of jeonse demand to outer Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, or to monthly rent, could speed up.
- The path to buying a home with a jeonse tenant in place has narrowed
Gap investing (buying a home with a jeonse tenant already in place) uses the tenant's deposit to pay part of the purchase price, so the buyer immediately becomes a landlord offering jeonse. But with most of the Seoul metropolitan area now designated as land transaction permit zones (areas where you need permission to buy a home and the buyer must live in it), the requirement to actually live in the home has been tightened. Because buyers must move in, it is hard to buy with a jeonse tenant. The market believes this increased the number of homes owners live in themselves and reduced new jeonse supply.
New apartment move-ins are also forecast to decline. According to R114 data compiled by KB Real Estate at the end of last year, Seoul apartments scheduled for move-in this year total 18,475 units, or 56.5% of the 32,703 units in 2025. Research institutes including the Housing & Urban Research Institute also named the shortage of move-in supply as a factor pushing up jeonse and monthly rent prices this year, in their outlooks at the end of last year.
- Jeonse listings fell most in outer Seoul
According to Asil data, Jungnang District saw jeonse listings fall 71.6% in a year, the biggest drop in Seoul. Dongdaemun District (-68.3%), Guro District (-65.1%), Geumcheon District (-57.7%) and Nowon District (-54.8%) followed.
Jungnang District's monthly rent share rose 20.3 percentage points, from 44.6% in January to September last year to 64.9% this year, the biggest jump among Seoul's 25 districts. While jeonse deals fell 16.5%, monthly rent deals rose 91.6%, from 2,166 to 4,151. Unlike Seoul as a whole, the balance here has clearly tilted toward monthly rent.
- Monthly rent got pricier, and jeonse now takes a bigger lump sum
According to the Korea Real Estate Board, the average monthly rent for a Seoul apartment in September was KRW 1.661 million, up KRW 218,000 from KRW 1.443 million a year earlier. According to KB Real Estate, the average jeonse price of a Seoul apartment in August was KRW 711.78 million, up 9.2% from a year earlier. Major banks' 2-year fixed-rate jeonse loans carried rates of 4.01% to 6.61% a year as of the end of August.
Put simply, those who moved to monthly rent pay more every month, and those who stayed with jeonse have to come up with a bigger lump sum. The market believes that financial authorities' tighter caps on total household lending this year also made jeonse loans harder to get.
- BITPRESS Insight
A 51% monthly rent share is less a sign that renters chose monthly rent than a sign that fewer homes are coming up for jeonse. Jeonse has become a shrinking supply rather than one that returns if you wait, and the alternatives open to a renter at renewal have narrowed accordingly.
To see which costs less, renewing or switching to monthly rent, put the jeonse loan rate next to the jeonse-to-monthly-rent conversion rate (the rate used to convert a deposit into monthly rent). The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's May figure, compiled from actual contracts, puts the Seoul apartment market conversion rate at 4.7%. Lowering the deposit by KRW 100 million and converting it to monthly rent means paying about KRW 390,000 more each month. Borrowing the same KRW 100 million at 4.01% a year costs about KRW 330,000 in monthly interest, and at 6.61% about KRW 550,000 (a simple hypothetical calculation). If you pay the deposit with your own money, compare it with the interest you would earn by putting that money in a savings account instead of the loan rate.
Moving to the outskirts is not free either. The average jeonse price per 3.3 square meters (1 pyeong) in Nowon, Dobong and Gangbuk districts rose 12% to 16% in a year, above Seoul's average increase of 10%. The conversion rate differs by complex and contract, but if the interest you pay on a KRW 100 million deposit is lower than the conversion rate, keeping jeonse costs less each month, and if it is higher, switching to monthly rent does.
Sources
https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20261019159000003
https://newsis.com/view/NISX20260911_0003786345
https://v.daum.net/v/GCidIvCEQs
https://v.daum.net/v/20251231213204705
https://v.daum.net/v/20260725070654275
Glossary
Jeonse — A Korean rental system in which the tenant leaves a large deposit with the landlord, lives there without paying monthly rent, and gets the full deposit back when the contract ends.
Gap investing — A way of buying a home by using the tenant's jeonse deposit to pay part of the price, so the buyer immediately becomes the landlord offering jeonse.
Land transaction permit zone — An area where you need permission to buy a home and the buyer must live in it.
Jeonse-to-monthly-rent conversion rate — The annual rate used to convert a jeonse deposit into monthly rent. At 4.7%, lowering the deposit by KRW 100 million adds KRW 4.7 million a year in monthly rent.
Seoul Real Estate Information Plaza — A real estate statistics site run by the Seoul Metropolitan Government that compiles reported sale and jeonse/monthly rent deals by contract date.
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