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By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Gangseo-gu, the southwestern district of Seoul, has long been considered dull and dreadfully far from the city's eventful downtown destinations, but Seoul City's new subway line 9 is helping the placid part of town put on a new face.
The metro route ― also known as the gold line ― which cuts travel time from the city's westernmost stops to Gangnam by half, is serving as a major real estate boon with commuters and homebuyers finding new interest in the traditionally less sought-after areas, according to brokers.
Latest market data shows that their interest is primarily centered on studios and small one-bedrooms in towns such as Deungchon-dong and Gayang-dong, where property prices have jumped more than 20 percent since January this year.
For example, a 43-square-meter Doosan We've studio near Deungchon station priced at 95 million won earlier this year now hovers above 115 million won, while an 83-square-meter E-Star Ville apartment close to Gayang station rose from 132 million won to 152 million won in just six months.
``The real estate market along the line 9 has been gaining momentum gradually for the past several years, but there has been an instant spike in demand after operations finally kicked off,'' said Yoo Ji-oh, a realtor in Deungchon-dong.
He explained that commuters' positive responses after trying the new metro are helping fan buyer interest even more.
The new line linking Nonhyeon, one of the prime stops in southern Seoul, and Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul started running July 24 after breaking ground in December 2000.
The route was designed to truncate the commuting time from western to southern Seoul, which previously took more than an hour due to detours and multiple transfers.
The shortened travel time is expected to encourage more single commuters to seek the city's outskirts, which is why smaller housing units are growing more popular, realtors said.
Kim Shin-young, a broker in Noryangjin, said people working in the Gangnam area now have a whole new stretch of towns they can choose from.
Aside from out-of-the-way Gangseo-gu locations, she said Yeouido, Noryangjin and Seocho-dong are up-and-coming parts of the city that are going to be higher in demand.
In fact, new data released by Property Bank, a real estate consultancy, Monday, show that apartments in Yeouido and Seocho-dong are already on an upward spiral with values leaping anywhere from 30 to 50 percent since January.
``Public transit is one of the surest boons in the real estate market, so we should expect prices to continue their rising trend,'' said an official of Property Bank, who added that towns along the second phase of line 9 are already seeing values go up.
The second phase of the metro, scheduled for completion in 2012, is set to link Nonhyeon-dong and Bangi-dong in Songpa-gu, stopping at Jamsil Sports Complex and Samseong-dong.
jhan@koreatimes.co.kr
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