JLL Finds Record Office Transaction Volume in Seoul

The Seoul office market attracted record investment in 2025 while rents across the South Korean capital rose.

Annual office transaction volumes climbed to a record 6 trillion won (more than $4 billion), Real Estate Asia reported, citing new research from JLL. Those numbers were driven by major deals including the sale of Signature Tower in Seoul’s central business district from IGIS Asset Management to KB Asset Management for roughly 1 trillion won (about $671.5 million).

Meanwhile, net effective office rents in Seoul climbed to 147,882 won ($99.26) per pyeong, a traditional Korean unit of area equivalent to roughly 35.6 square feet. That represents a 4.7 percent year-over-year increase in net effective office rents across the city.

Tenants competed for space last year, as office vacancy in Seoul fell slightly to 4.6 percent and remained below 5 percent throughout the year, per JLL. The city saw positive quarterly net absorption as more users leased space than was vacated, though the overall figure for the year was negative as some large tenants relocated from the central business district early in 2025 as a way to reduce operating costs.

The gulf between office occupancies in the central business district and other submarkets in the city is expected to widen this year as more developments work their way through the pipeline, according to JLL. The central business district could face higher vacancy numbers as new office supply comes online, while Gangnam and Yeouido are expected to have stable occupancy due to there being few new projects in those areas coming down the pike.

As rents increase, so too are luxury home values. Last year ended with Seoul and Tokyo leading the globe in luxury home value growth, and that trend is expected to continue this year. Prices in Seoul’s luxury market are expected to grow between 6 and 8 percent, according to a new report from Savills. That increase would add to the 14 percent appreciation that the city’s high-end properties saw last year.

— Chris Malone Méndez