Apartment construction starts in five regions—Gangwon, North Chungcheong, North Jeolla, Busan and Ulsan—fell 44.8% over the past year. It is the smallest volume in five years. The government is rushing to expand housing supply under its “supply first, no questions asked” (“Dakgong”) drive. In the provinces, however, the supply base is instead weakening.
Real estate research firm Realtoday on the 11th released the results of its analysis of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s housing construction performance (construction starts) statistics. The analysis period runs from October 2021 to September of this year. Each period was defined as October through the following September, and comparisons were made in 12-month units. In all five regions, results for the most recent period, October 2025 to September 2026, were lower than in the previous four periods.
Construction starts in the five regions over the most recent year totaled 26,180 units. In the preceding year, the figure was 47,427 units. Gangwon, North Chungcheong and North Jeolla saw declines of more than 60%.
Gangwon stood at just 1,812 units, down 62.3% from the preceding year. From October 2021 to September 2022, it was 12,329 units. It then fell year after year to 8,391, 7,605 and 4,808 units. This time it came in below 2,000.
North Chungcheong tallied 5,216 units, a 62.8% drop from 14,029 units in the preceding year.
The metropolitan cities of Busan and Ulsan also made the list. Busan recorded 13,355 units, down 12.3% from the preceding year (15,224 units). That is below even the 13,551 units of October 2022 to September 2023, the lowest of the previous four periods. Ulsan fell 40.5% from 5,567 units to 3,311 units. This is the lowest level in five years.
The decline in construction starts could affect future new supply. Apartments take a long time from the start of construction to completion. If the construction start slump drags on, the choice of new apartments available for move-in in a few years could shrink.
Sales are scheduled this year in these regions. In Busan, Hoban Construction will launch “Hoban Summit Choryang” in November at the Choryang District 3 redevelopment site (around 659 Choryang 3-dong, Dong-gu). In North Jeolla, Doosan Engineering & Construction will put up “Doosan We’ve Tresium Iksan” in November, a reconstruction of Segyeong Phase 1 Apartments around 1057 Dongsan-dong, Iksan.
In North Chungcheong, the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) will supply “Chungbuk Innovation B9 (public sale, tentative name)” in December at Block B9 of the Chungbuk Innovation City (Maengdong-myeon, Eumseong County). In Ulsan, Hyundai Engineering plans to sell “Hillstate Ulsan Station Riverforet” in November at Block M5 of the KTX Ulsan Station Area Complex District. Dongwon Development will also launch “Taehwagang Vista Dongwon Phases 1, 2 and 3” this year around 52 Ujeong-dong, Jung-gu, Ulsan.
“A decline in apartment construction starts could lead to reduced new housing supply in the future, so the scarcity of new apartments could come to the fore,” a Realtoday official said. The official advised that those preparing to buy a home should carefully examine the supply schedule, location and sale price of upcoming complexes. The official also said that in regions with a supply shortage, securing a competitive complex first could be a strategy. The explanation is that one can expect not only stable home ownership but also value appreciation from scarcity.