Apartment prices in Pyeongtaek and Icheon, home to major semiconductor production facilities, fell 7.17% and 7.28%, respectively, between June 9 last year and Sept. 14 this year, even as the broader Seoul metropolitan area extended its rally to 66 consecutive weeks. Bundang District in Seongnam gained 32.54%, leaving the two semiconductor hinterlands nearly 40 percentage points behind. Transaction data showed an even wider divide: an 84-square-meter unit at Godeok International New Town Paragon in Pyeongtaek sold for 600 million won in August, below its 980 million won 2021 peak and the 630 million won recorded in June last year. An 84-square-meter unit at Lotte Castle near Dongtan Station in Hwaseong sold for 2.225 billion won in June, an all-time high for the complex. Employees at Samsung Electronics’ Pyeongtaek campus and SK Hynix in Icheon are favoring Dongtan and Yongin for their department stores, private academies and transportation networks rather than living near their workplaces. Pyeongtaek is also contending with excess housing supply. Weakness extended to Ilsan’s districts in Goyang and neighboring Paju, while gains concentrated in preferred locations including Gwangmyeong and Seoul’s Seongdong District. Professor Ko Jun-seok of Yonsei University said demand was spreading from Seoul into Gyeonggi Province but becoming more concentrated, producing a polarized recovery shaped by lifestyle infrastructure and supply conditions.