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InvestNot yet confirmed elsewhere1 publisher3 min readPublished

Million-won studio leases in Seoul outgrow the officetel rent market nearly fivefold

Seoul studio leases at 1 million won a month or more rose 70% in two years, against 14.5% for all small-officetel monthly leases, Seoul Economic Daily found. The dearer leases have spread past Gangnam into the campus and office districts where young renters live.

The Investor · Invest desk

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Illustration accompanying Million-won studio leases in Seoul outgrow the officetel rent market nearly fivefold
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Jongno leads: 26.6% of contracts at 1 million won or more Share of contracts at 1 million won or more in Jongno, Seodaemun and Gwangjin districts.

Bar chart of the share of contracts at 1 million won or more by district: Jongno District 26.6%, Seodaemun District 22.6%, Gwangjin District 19.9%.

Jongno leads: 26.6% of contracts at 1 million won or more (Share of contracts at 1 million won or more, by district)
ItemValueClaim
Jongno District26.6%10
Seodaemun District22.6%10
Gwangjin District19.9%10

What happened

  • The higher the rent band, the faster it grew: leases at 1.5 million won or more rose 2.8-fold, to 528 from 188.
  • Leases under 700,000 won fell to 54.1% of all small-officetel monthly rentals in Seoul, down from 61.5% two years earlier.
  • In Mapo, million-won leases rose 72.3% to 243 while the district's total monthly rentals held at 2,320 against 2,319.
  • Jongno's share of million-won leases jumped to 26.6% from 10.7%, with Seodaemun reaching 22.6% and Gwangjin 19.9%.
  • Last November Seoul raised the rent ceiling on its youth deposit-interest subsidy to 900,000 won from 700,000 won.

Why it matters

  • cost At the 2.66 million won average pre-tax pay of employed young adults, a 1 million won lease takes 37.6% of income and a 1.5 million won lease 56.4%, before maintenance charges that rose 10.9% in a year near major universities.
  • constraint Even after the raise, Seoul's youth subsidy excludes every lease in the fastest-growing band, so its reach near campuses and offices narrows as that band takes share.
  • decision Tenants who want to live near Ewha Womans University or Hapjeong now choose between 17 to 18 square meter units at 1.35 million to 1.55 million won a month and long commutes from outlying areas.

Counted by contracts added, the top end is further ahead than the 4.8-to-1 ratio of growth rates suggests [22]. Million-won leases added 1,953 contracts in two years while the whole small-officetel rent market added 4,216. A band that held 9.5% of deals in 2024 therefore took about 46% of the new volume [23][5]. Over the same two years the median lease rose 8.3% to 650,000 won, roughly 4% a year [7][28].

Citywide, the cheap end held its numbers. Applying the published shares to the totals, leases under 700,000 won came to about 18,060 this year against about 17,930 in 2024. The count was flat, and the share fell because the new volume landed above it [24]. Mapo is the cleaner case. Its total did not move, so a gain in one band had to be a loss in another: the sub-700,000 won band lost 321 contracts, the million-won band gained 102 and the band in between gained about 220 [9][25]. Seongbuk moved the same way, with the cheap share down to 52.1% from 76.0% [11].

The figures fit more than one story. If newer, pricier buildings are entering the lease data, the top band grows without any existing unit getting dearer. If landlords are taking smaller deposits in exchange for higher monthly rent, monthly rent rises faster than the tenant's total cost. The example leases near Ewha Womans University, in Changcheon-dong and in Hapjeong-dong carry deposits of 5 million to 10 million won [12][13][14]. The newspaper's analysis sorts contracts by monthly rent and does not break out building age or deposit size [20]. The steepest multiples also sit on small counts. The 2 million won band is 104 leases, about 0.3% of the market, up from 23 [4][26].

We think most of the move is repricing in the districts young tenants use, and Mapo is the evidence. With volume flat, its cheap band shrank by a quarter while the bands above it grew [9][25]. These figures cannot rule out the new-building explanation. If a breakdown by completion year shows the million-won growth concentrated in buildings opened since 2024, or if Mapo's sub-700,000 won count recovers next year, the repricing view is wrong.

The city's tool here is a subsidy on the interest young tenants pay on deposit loans [17]. The leases driving the top band carry deposits worth only 3.7 to 6.7 months of their rent, so most of the tenant's cost is the monthly payment, and the subsidy addresses the deposit [27]. Lifting the ceiling by 200,000 won extends eligibility into the lower part of the 700,000-to-1 million won band that Mapo's figures show filling up. It adds no units near campuses or offices [29]. In research published in June, Lee Soo-ki, a professor of urban planning and engineering at Hanyang University, recommended expanding residential capacity near jobs [18].

What to watch

  • A breakdown of the same ministry transaction data by building completion year, which would separate repricing of existing studios from new premium supply.
  • Whether Mapo's count of sub-700,000 won leases keeps falling in next year's January-September data while total volume stays flat.
  • Whether Seoul moves its youth subsidy ceiling past 1 million won or funds housing near Mapo and Jongno, as Lee Soo-ki recommended.

Clarity's read

What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.

Reality

Evidence62
Adoption
Insufficient
Hype gap+12
Incentives
Insufficient
Confidence58
Why these scores

Claim ledger

Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.

  1. [1]

    Seoul Economic Daily found 4,737 monthly-rent contracts of 1 million won or more for Seoul officetels of 30 square meters or less between January and September 2026, a 70.2% rise from 2,784 in the same period of 2024.

    ReportedSupportedSource: Seoul Economic Daily analysis of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport transaction dataView cited source
  2. [2]

    Total monthly rent contracts over the same span rose 14.5%, to 33,376 from 29,160.

    ReportedSupportedSource: Seoul Economic Daily analysisView cited source
  3. [3]

    Contracts at 1.5 million won or more rose 2.8-fold, to 528 this year from 188 in 2024.

    ReportedSupportedSource: Seoul Economic Daily analysisView cited source

Sources

1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.

  1. en.sedaily.com

    1 article · October 11, 2026

    Seoul's High-Rent Micro Studios Jump 70% in Two Years

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