▶ RSQUARE RA: January Seoul commercial/office real estate transaction value reaches 1.9127 trillion KRW across 135 cases
▶ Bucking the usual early-year slump, volume remains neck-and-neck with the previous month; value surges 3.2-fold YoY
▶ First rebound for a January transaction value in 3 years since the January 2023 rock-bottom, though whether the heat will persist remains to be seen
According to an analysis of actual transaction data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) by RSQUARE ANALYTICS (RA), the research arm of comprehensive commercial real estate service firm RSQUARE (CEO: Lee Yong-gyun), the transaction value of Seoul's commercial and office real estate in January 2026 recorded 1.9127 trillion KRW. This marks the first time in three years that the "January transaction value" has recovered to the high 1-trillion-KRW range.
According to RA's analysis released on the 6th, January’s transactions in Seoul reached 1.9127 trillion KRW across 135 cases. Compared to the previous month (December 2025: 2.0520 trillion KRW / 169 cases), the transaction value decreased slightly by 6.8%, and the transaction count dropped by 20.1%.
Generally, January is a period when new deals have yet to ramp up after the closing of year-end transactions, typically leading to a significant drop in transaction value compared to December. In contrast, this January maintained a transaction value closely trailing the previous month, despite the numerical decrease.
Looking back at January transaction trends over the past five years, values reached 2.2 trillion KRW in 2021 and 2.4688 trillion KRW in 2022 before plummeting to 495.2 billion KRW in 2023 due to aggressive interest rate hikes. It then stalled at 885.6 billion KRW in 2024 and 606.3 billion KRW in 2025. Compared to those years, this January's figure of 1.9127 trillion KRW is an exceptional milestone, recovering for the first time in three years.
Notably, this is a 3.9-fold increase compared to the low of January 2023, and a 3.2-fold recovery year-over-year. This indicates that the market has steadily improved, leaving behind the period when the transaction cycle was severely constricted.
"While January is typically a quiet period with a void in transaction activity, the market showed an unexpectedly robust flow this year, capturing a value in the high 1-trillion-KRW range," analyzed the RSQUARE Research Center. However, they advised, "With the investment environment rapidly shifting due to recent domestic and international developments, we will need to wait and see whether this transaction heat can be sustained."
Meanwhile, the largest transaction in January was confirmed to be the sale of the 'Children’s Grand Park Children's Hall' in Neung-dong, Gwangjin-gu, for 330.0 billion KRW. This was followed by the 'Lotte Hotel L7 Hongdae' in Donggyo-dong, Mapo-gu (265.0 billion KRW), and the 'Seoul Paik Hospital' transaction in Jeodong 2-ga, Jung-gu (170.0 billion KRW).
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▶ RSQUARE RA: January Seoul commercial/office real estate transaction value reaches 1.9127 trillion KRW across 135 cases
▶ Bucking the usual early-year slump, volume remains neck-and-neck with the previous month; value surges 3.2-fold YoY
▶ First rebound for a January transaction value in 3 years since the January 2023 rock-bottom, though whether the heat will persist remains to be seen
According to an analysis of actual transaction data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) by RSQUARE ANALYTICS (RA), the research arm of comprehensive commercial real estate service firm RSQUARE (CEO: Lee Yong-gyun), the transaction value of Seoul's commercial and office real estate in January 2026 recorded 1.9127 trillion KRW. This marks the first time in three years that the "January transaction value" has recovered to the high 1-trillion-KRW range.
According to RA's analysis released on the 6th, January’s transactions in Seoul reached 1.9127 trillion KRW across 135 cases. Compared to the previous month (December 2025: 2.0520 trillion KRW / 169 cases), the transaction value decreased slightly by 6.8%, and the transaction count dropped by 20.1%.
Generally, January is a period when new deals have yet to ramp up after the closing of year-end transactions, typically leading to a significant drop in transaction value compared to December. In contrast, this January maintained a transaction value closely trailing the previous month, despite the numerical decrease.
Looking back at January transaction trends over the past five years, values reached 2.2 trillion KRW in 2021 and 2.4688 trillion KRW in 2022 before plummeting to 495.2 billion KRW in 2023 due to aggressive interest rate hikes. It then stalled at 885.6 billion KRW in 2024 and 606.3 billion KRW in 2025. Compared to those years, this January's figure of 1.9127 trillion KRW is an exceptional milestone, recovering for the first time in three years.
Notably, this is a 3.9-fold increase compared to the low of January 2023, and a 3.2-fold recovery year-over-year. This indicates that the market has steadily improved, leaving behind the period when the transaction cycle was severely constricted.
"While January is typically a quiet period with a void in transaction activity, the market showed an unexpectedly robust flow this year, capturing a value in the high 1-trillion-KRW range," analyzed the RSQUARE Research Center. However, they advised, "With the investment environment rapidly shifting due to recent domestic and international developments, we will need to wait and see whether this transaction heat can be sustained."
Meanwhile, the largest transaction in January was confirmed to be the sale of the 'Children’s Grand Park Children's Hall' in Neung-dong, Gwangjin-gu, for 330.0 billion KRW. This was followed by the 'Lotte Hotel L7 Hongdae' in Donggyo-dong, Mapo-gu (265.0 billion KRW), and the 'Seoul Paik Hospital' transaction in Jeodong 2-ga, Jung-gu (170.0 billion KRW).