The monthly rental price of one-room studio apartments in Seoul was highest in December and lowest in April last year, according to data released by South Korea’s real estate and housing listing site operator DaBang on Wednesday.

The Seoul-based studio apartments under consideration were those less than 33 square meters in size, DaBang said.

The results are based on monthly rent fees of 1 million studio apartments in Seoul that were listed on DaBang in 2018, after unilaterally fixing the deposit payment at 10 million won ($8,960).


According to DaBang, Seoul’s one-room studio apartment rent prices were the highest in December, presumed to be a time when many university students and young workers start looking for new housing.

In terms of price fluctuations, Yongsan-gu saw the biggest price difference of 230,000 won -- the region’s highest average monthly rent was 690,000 won while its lowest average monthly rent was 460,000 won.

Moreover, Yongsan-gu’s standard deviation for monthly rental fees was 6.14, the highest among Seoul’s 25 districts, followed by Nowon-gu (3.37), Seocho-gu (3.35) and Jungnang-gu (3.08).

In terms of absolute rental prices, the highest monthly rental fees were observed in Seoul’s four wealthiest districts — Gangdong-gu, Gangnam-gu, Songpa-gu and Seocho-gu, DaBang said.

The districts with relatively lower apartment rental prices were concentrated in southwestern and northeastern Seoul, including Geumcheon-gu, Guro-gu and Gwanak-gu as well as Dobong-gu and Nowon-gu.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)