South Korea’s nominal home prices rose 1.76% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, exceeding increases in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, according to BIS Residential Property Price Statistics. The recovery followed a 0.15% decline a year earlier and accelerated through successive quarters, led by Seoul and the surrounding capital region amid concentrated demand and weak completed-home supply. Separate July housing statistics from South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport showed Seoul apartment completions fell 48.7% year over year to 17,603 units from January through July, while total Seoul completions declined 43.3% to 20,916. The ministry’s first-half measure recorded a 58.4% fall in Seoul apartment completions to 12,251 units, reflecting a different reporting period. Nationwide housing completions dropped 41.4% to 135,513 units, but housing starts increased 11.1% to 138,383, including a 44.4% rise in Seoul. Transactions weakened, monthly rent gained share in Seoul, and about 85% of unsold-after-completion homes were in provincial regions. South Korea’s inflation-adjusted home prices still fell 0.28% year over year in the first quarter, although the decline narrowed from 2.21% a year earlier, making a full-fledged real-price upswing premature.