The prices for “jeonse” apartments in Seoul and nearby areas are surging with some units’ jeonse-to-apartment-price ratios exceeding 90 percent, real estate analysts said Sunday.

Jeonse is a unique system under which tenants furnish a hefty deposit that the landlord is free to invest and return at the end of the lease, typically after two years.

These deposits have been generally equivalent to about a half or third of the value of the leased property. However, the average rental-to-purchase ratio for apartments has surged as more and more owners are turning to monthly rent due to low interest rates.

<YONHAP PHOTO-1003> '전세금 너무 비싸네'…서울은 도시근로자 가구 6년치 소득 (서울=연합뉴스) 서명곤 기자 = 서울 시내 아파트의 평균 전세금이 도시 근로자 가구의 6년치 소득과 맞먹는 것으로 나타났다. 부동산114는 작년 12월 말 현재 전국 아파트의 전세 시세와 통계청의 지난해 도시근로자 가구(2인 이상 기준) 소득을 비교한 결과, 서울지역 평균 전세가격이 3억3천849만원으로 도시근로자 가구의 연간 소득(5천682만원)의 5.96배에 달했다고 밝혔다. 사진은 15일 서울 송파구 한 부동산 중개업소 모습. 2015.2.15 seephoto@yna.co.kr/2015-02-15 15:13:45/ <저작권자 ⓒ 1980-2015 ㈜연합뉴스. 무단 전재 재배포 금지.> A woman walks past a real estate agency in Jamsil, Seoul. Yonhap
'전세금 너무 비싸네'…서울은 도시근로자 가구 6년치 소득 (서울=연합뉴스) 서명곤 기자 = 서울 시내 아파트의 평균 전세금이 도시 근로자 가구의 6년치 소득과 맞먹는 것으로 나타났다. 부동산114는 작년 12월 말 현재 전국 아파트의 전세 시세와 통계청의 지난해 도시근로자 가구(2인 이상 기준) 소득을 비교한 결과, 서울지역 평균 전세가격이 3억3천849만원으로 도시근로자 가구의 연간 소득(5천682만원)의 5.96배에 달했다고 밝혔다. 사진은 15일 서울 송파구 한 부동산 중개업소 모습. 2015.2.15 seephoto@yna.co.kr/2015-02-15 15:13:45/ <저작권자 ⓒ 1980-2015 ㈜연합뉴스. 무단 전재 재배포 금지.> A woman walks past a real estate agency in Jamsil, Seoul. Yonhap

“As jeonse supply falls far behind demand, a growing number of tenants are signing high-priced contracts even though they know the price is almost same as that of the house,” a real estate agency official said.

For instance, a contract was signed last month for a 59-square-meter unit at Jongam SK Apartment, located in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, for 240 million won ($217,000) in jeonse deposit last month though its actual value was 249 million won, according to data from Seoul Property Information.

The average jeonse-to-purchase-price ratio for the apartment complex was 96.4 percent in February, compared to an average ratio of 73.4 percent in the Seongbuk area in northern Seoul in January, the data showed.

Jeonse deposits for some apartments in Gyeonggi Province have even exceeded apartment prices.

Despite the jeonse price hike, the lump-sum rental system remains the preferred housing arrangement for many Koreans as they consider monthly rent to be a higher financial burden.

The average ratio of jeonse to apartment prices nationwide stood at 70.2 percent in January this year, the highest level since 1998, according to KB Kookmin Bank. The ratio was 52.3 percent in February 2009, but has been gradually on the rise since then.

By Park Han-na ()


koreaherald@heraldcorp.com