Expensive apartments become new source of marriage matchmaking

The Raemian One Bailey aparment complex in southern Seoul's Banpo-dong is seen from Banpo Hangang Park in this undated photo. Yonhap

A top-priced apartment complex in Seoul is serving as a venue for matchmaking between unmarried people whose parents want their children to find a spouse from similar social and economic backgrounds.

According to sources from the real estate industry, Monday, a matchmaking event took place last weekend for singles in their 20s and 30s at Raemian One Bailey, an affluent apartment complex in southern Seoul’s Banpo-dong.

Built last summer, Raemian One Bailey is one of the country’s most expensive apartment complexes.

For instance, an 84-square-meter flat was sold for 4.4 billion won ($3.24 million) last month, up from 3.8 billion won in January.

The complex houses about 2,900 households, including parents living with unmarried children in their 20s and 30s.

“Those parents came up with the idea of matchmaking among neighbors, implicitly believing they share similar backgrounds, such as income and education, and thus their children have a higher chance to meet ideal lifetime partners within the same social class,” a source said.

A full, one-year membership for matchmaking events costs 300,000 won.

The events include meetings of parents joined by their respective children and mass blind dates for the children. The first mass blind date took place on Saturday, involving a buffet, with some 40 people participating, the sources said.