In an apparent move to advocate the incumbent South Korean government’s real estate measures, the Land Ministry said on Tuesday Seoul’s housing prices had grown at a stable rate for the past five years, compared to fluctuations observed in real estate transaction prices in other major cities.

Seoul saw an average 18.9 per cent rate fluctuation in its housing price from 2014 to last year, according to the data, which was released as part of a seminar co-hosted by the ministry and the state-run Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), held on Tuesday.

In the same period, London, Berlin, Sydney, and Shanghai each saw a change rate of 39.6 per cent, 63.1 per cent, 54.8 per cent and 52.5 per cent.

But the data also showed that cities such as New York City and Tokyo saw a relatively low fluctuation rate of 16.2 and 4.1 per cent over the course of five years.

Experts at the seminar cited the Moon administration’s real estate regulations announced last year as a major reason behind the containment of a serious price hike.

On September 13 last year, the government announced a series of measures to crack down on speculation and cool off the overheated real estate market. It included restrictions on mortgages for multiple homeowners, and increases to the general real estate tax for high-priced residences.

Overall, the fluctuations in real estate transaction price across South Korea dropped to -0.63 per cent last month, from 1.48 per cent in 2017. The corresponding figure was 1.1 per cent last year.

“Following the September 13 measures, Seoul’s real estate transaction market was able to slow down,” Park Chun-gyu, an analyst at KRIHS, said at the seminar. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK