Seoul apartment lease renewals exceeded new contracts for the first time this year in August, while condominium gifts to adults aged 19–29 reached a 110-month high. Renewals accounted for 7,089 of 13,709 Seoul apartment jeonse and monthly-rent leases, or 51.7%, as limited listings and widening deposit gaps encouraged tenants to stay. Separately, Seoul recorded 41 condominium gift registrations to people in their 20s in August, taking the January-August total to 93, about 3.9 times the 24 cases recorded during the same period last year. The developments reflect separate pressures in South Korea’s housing market: lease-renewal incentives and rising rental costs on one side, and tax reform, tighter lending conditions and parental asset transfers on the other.