October’s Prime Residential Leases in Seoul: Renewals Fill the Market — and Jeonse Splits in Two

Monthly Transaction Notes · October 2026 · Leases

While sale prices catch their breath, jeonse is moving at two prices.

If October's sale market came to a halt at a high level, the rental market is telling a different story. Set the jeonse and monthly rent filings I have organized since June side by side, and three broad movements stand out. Renewals are filling the market. Because of that, a single complex now carries two jeonse prices, a renewal price and a new-contract price. And at the very top, monthly rents are sitting quietly at a steady level.

Renewals are filling the market

The first thing that stood out in October's data was the share of renewals. At Jamsil ELS, the large complex I use as a benchmark, 49 of 73 lease filings in October, about two in three, were renewals. The high end looks the same. In September, 32 of 52 lease filings across Hannam The Hill, Raemian One Bailey, Acro River Park, Raemian One Pentas and Trimage were renewals, and at Raemian One Pentas, 12 of 13 were.

Tenants are staying put, because finding a new home now costs far more than staying in the one they have. As a result, fewer jeonse homes are coming onto the market, and talk of a jeonse shortage has returned, particularly in school districts. Seoul apartment jeonse prices have risen more than 8% this year.

One complex, two jeonse prices

With so many renewals, a single complex now has two prices. A renewal that uses the tenant's statutory renewal right is capped at a 5% increase, while a new contract follows the market.

October at a glance · same complex, same size

Asset Earlier Later Gap
Two prices · new vs renewal jeonse
Raemian One Pentas
155.88 m²		 ₩4.8B
New · Jul		 ₩3.78B
Renewal · Oct		 +27%
Hannam The Hill
233–235 m²		 ₩6.1B
New · Jul		 ₩5.75–5.8B
Renewal · Sep		 +5–6%
Raemian Firstige
198.04 m²		 ₩3.6B
Renewal · Sep		 ₩3.8B
New · Oct		 +6%
Top monthly rent · holding
Acro Seoul Forest
Large units, ₩500M deposit		 ₩32M / ₩30M
Jun / Jul		 ₩30M
Oct		 Flat
Hannam The Hill
59 m², at ₩100M deposit		 ₩7.3–8.5M
Jun–Sep		 ₩7.7M
Oct		 In range

Source: MOLIT real transaction filings, contracts June–October 2026. Jeonse figures are deposits. Monthly rents for Hannam The Hill are restated to a ₩100M deposit for comparison. Gap shows how far the new-contract jeonse sits above the renewal price. Floors may differ.

Raemian One Pentas at 155.88 m² is the clearest example. A new jeonse contract in July was ₩4.8 billion; a renewal using the renewal right in October was ₩3.78 billion. That is a gap of ₩1 billion, about 27%, for the same size of home. Large units at Hannam The Hill show the same pattern: a new 235 m² jeonse in July was ₩6.1 billion, while 233 m² renewals in September came in at ₩5.75–5.8 billion.

New contracts are forming above renewal prices. At Raemian Firstige, a 198.04 m² renewal in September was ₩3.6 billion, and a new jeonse contract in October was ₩3.8 billion. Renewals in the 208 m² range at Hannam The Hill went from ₩5.355 billion in September to ₩5.46 billion in October, edging up within the 5% cap.

The gap between these two prices cannot last indefinitely. The renewal right can be used only once, and when a contract that has already used it expires, the home is re-let at the market price. Complex by complex, the moment will come when prices held down by renewals catch up with new-contract prices all at once.

Top monthly rents are holding

Unlike jeonse, monthly rents at the very top are remarkably quiet. Large units at Acro Seoul Forest let for ₩32 million a month on a ₩500 million deposit in June, and for ₩30 million a month on the same deposit in July and October. Over four months, that is essentially the same place. Monthly rents for 59 m² units at Hannam The Hill, restated to a ₩100 million deposit, stayed within ₩7.3–8.5 million a month from June to October.

That said, there are only a few monthly rent contracts a month at this level. In a market where one or two contracts set the month's price, I am careful not to read identical numbers as stability. Still, it is worth recording that while jeonse swung between renewal and new-contract prices, monthly rents held their ground.

Jamsil ELS: the temperature of a large complex

At Jamsil ELS, the benchmark I track alongside the prime market, there were 20 jeonse contracts for 84 m² units in October, averaging ₩1.327 billion. That is about 41% of the ₩3.237 billion average sale price for the same size. There were 33 monthly rent contracts, averaging a ₩639 million deposit and ₩2.65 million a month, or ₩4.81 million a month restated to a ₩100 million deposit. With one month of figures it is too early to speak of direction. But if jeonse keeps rising while sales stand still, that 41% will gradually move higher, and I will keep recording that change from next month.

Quiet Property's outlook: jeonse up, top monthly rents steady

Over the next few months, I think upward pressure on high-end jeonse in Seoul is likely to continue, especially for new contracts. Few homes are coming to market, and demand that has postponed buying because of lending restrictions is staying in the rental market. Ahead of the February–March moving season and the start of the school year, that pressure is likely to become clearer. As contracts that have already used the renewal right expire and are re-let at market prices, step-like increases may appear complex by complex.

I expect top-end monthly rents to stay close to their current level for now. They have held the same place for four months, and unlike jeonse, this is not a market with a gap building up between renewal and new-contract prices. Because deals are so few, though, a single contract can change the numbers at any time.

Jeonse rising steadily while the sale market catches its breath also means that the support beneath sale prices is slowly getting firmer. The full picture of the market only appears when sales and leases are read together. Next month, I will record both side by side again.

Note: Based on MOLIT's Real Transaction Price Disclosure System, contracts dated June–October 2026; October contracts retrieved November 2, so late-October contracts may still be filed. Selection criteria differed slightly from month to month, so only repeated filings for the same complex and size are compared; August is excluded for lack of lease data. Jeonse is a lump-sum deposit lease unique to Korea. The Seoul jeonse figure cites press reports of Korea Real Estate Board statistics. All figures in Korean won.

Quiet Property · Jin Kong
jin@quietproperty.kr
Location: Seoul, South Korea

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