The average price of apartments in the Seoul metropolitan area fell nearly 10 percent in July from 2008 due to a prolonged property market slump alongside an economic downturn, government data said Tuesday.

The price of apartments in Seoul fell 9 percent in July from June 2008, according to the index released by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.

Incheon, a city located west of the capital city, also experienced a 13.4 percent plunge in apartment prices over the cited period. The Seoul metropolitan area, which includes the capital city and surrounding Gyeonggi Province, are home to nearly half of the country's population of 50 million.

The local housing market's growth has decelerated since 2008, dragged down by toughening conditions at home and abroad, market watchers said.

"Following the financial crisis in the eurozone, investors are taking a wait-and-see approach in the local housing market, which led to the plunge in the number of houses traded," said Eom Keun-yong, a researcher from the Construction Economy Research Institute of Korea (CERIK).

The total number of apartments traded in the country in the first half reached 231,000, down 37 percent from a year earlier, and is the lowest figure since the country began tracking such data in 2006, underscoring the depressed local housing market.

Only 20,000 apartments were sold in Seoul over the cited period, down 41 percent from the previous year.

The prices of newly built apartments in the area also plunged by 35 percent, as builders failed to balance supply and demand while they strove to increase sales volume by minimizing margins, market watchers said.

"Since there is no potential breakthrough to escape from the current economic slowdown to revitalize the local market, apartment prices may plunge even further," another researcher from CERIK said. (Yonhap)