A 170-square-meter land in Myeong-dong, central Seoul, where South Korean beauty brand Nature Republic’s flagship store is located, has been named the most expensive real estate property in the country for the eighteenth consecutive year, data showed Monday. 

The prime plot in the middle of the downtown shopping district was appraised at nearly 200 million won ($179,800) per square-meter, up 3.8 percent from 190 million won estimated a year earlier, according to data released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

It was worth 681 million won per 3.3 square meters, or 35.5 square feet, which is one pyeong. A pyeong is a unit of area used in local real estate measuring.

The commercial property located at Chungmuro 1-ga 24-2, Jung-gu, Seoul has remained at the top of the nation’s real estate price list since 2004.

The most expensive residential area was the Acro River Park apartment complex located in Seocho-gu, which boasted a price of 88 million won per 3.3 square meters. The cheapest land was a forest under Mount Dobong in northern Seoul worth 20,790 won per 3.3 square meters.

On average, land prices across Seoul sharply rose 11.5 percent on-year, a faster increase compared with the previous year’s 8.25 percent jump. 

The affluent Gangnam district posted the largest gain with 14.1 percent, followed by Yeongdeungpo-gu with 13.9 percent and Gangseo-gu with 12.7 percent.

The government assessed the value of 879,402 plots of land across the capital city. While 97.8 percent of them saw price increases, 0.4 percent fell in value, data showed. 

By Choi Jae-hee (cjh@heraldcorp.com)