Apartment Prices Have Risen Every Single Week for a Year in Seoul
Seoul's real estate rally is frustrating young workers who see the bottom rung of the property ladder float out of reach.
Residential buildings by the Han River in Seoul in September.
Photographer: Tina Hsu/BloombergBohyun Lee followed South Korea’s prescribed route to success. She entered the country’s top university to study economics, moved to Seoul in 2010 and built an adult life there — working, forging relationships and treating the capital as home.
The one thing she doesn’t have is an actual home of her own. Over the past 16 years Lee has packed her belongings and moved seven times, cycling through a dormitory and rental homes as two-year leases expired. The hope of owning an apartment in Seoul, once a realistic goal, has steadily slipped out of reach.