Rent in Seoul varies a lot by home type, district and deposit. The table below gives the median officetel, villa and apartment rent in Seoul as of August 2026. In that month, the median officetel in Seoul rented for ₩700,000 a month with a ₩10m deposit, and the typical size was 23.1 m².
| Home type | Monthly rent | Deposit | Jeonse deposit | Typical size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment | ₩1,000,000 | ₩100m | ₩630m | 58.1 m² |
| Officetel | ₩700,000 | ₩10m | ₩230m | 23.1 m² |
| Villa or row house | ₩550,000 | ₩40m | ₩230m | 30 m² |
Medians of contracts reported in August 2026. Rent figures are for new leases, the price someone moving in signs; where fewer than 10 new leases were reported, all leases are used. Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport real transaction records (국토교통부 실거래가), processed by Seoulstart. Updated monthly.
These are medians of real lease contracts reported to the government, not asking prices from listings. Half of the reported contracts were cheaper and half were more expensive. Your rent depends on the deposit you can pay, so read the section on deposits below before you compare homes.
To browse the same data by district, open rent in Seoul on Seoulstart Housing.
Rent in all 25 districts
The table lists the median officetel rent in every Seoul district, sorted from the lowest rent to the highest. Each district name links to its own page with villas, apartments and more detail.
| Area | Monthly rent | Deposit | Contracts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jungnang-gu | ₩550,000 | ₩50m | 69 |
| Eunpyeong-gu | ₩600,000 | ₩10m | 137 |
| Geumcheon-gu | ₩600,000 | ₩10m | 225 |
| Guro-gu | ₩600,000 | ₩20m | 228 |
| Gwanak-gu | ₩600,000 | ₩20m | 266 |
| Nowon-gu | ₩600,000 | ₩10m | 21 |
| Dobong-gu | ₩650,000 | ₩10m | 57 |
| Gangseo-gu | ₩650,000 | ₩20m | 556 |
| Gangdong-gu | ₩670,000 | ₩10m | 178 |
| Dongjak-gu | ₩700,000 | ₩20m | 31 |
| Yeongdeungpo-gu | ₩700,000 | ₩30m | 413 |
| Yangcheon-gu | ₩720,000 | ₩10m | 45 |
| Mapo-gu | ₩750,000 | ₩10m | 294 |
| Seongbuk-gu | ₩750,000 | ₩10m | 51 |
| Seongdong-gu | ₩750,000 | ₩20m | 91 |
| Dongdaemun-gu | ₩770,000 | ₩10m | 342 |
| Seocho-gu | ₩820,000 | ₩10m | 143 |
| Songpa-gu | ₩845,000 | ₩30m | 332 |
| Gangbuk-gu | ₩850,000 | ₩10m | 53 |
| Seodaemun-gu | ₩865,000 | ₩10m | 134 |
| Jongno-gu | ₩870,000 | ₩10m | 132 |
| Gangnam-gu | ₩900,000 | ₩10m | 210 |
| Gwangjin-gu | ₩900,000 | ₩10m | 154 |
| Jung-gu | ₩900,000 | ₩20m | 115 |
| Yongsan-gu | ₩1,000,000 | ₩35m | 96 |
Medians of contracts reported in August 2026. Rent figures are for new leases, the price someone moving in signs; where fewer than 10 new leases were reported, all leases are used. Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport real transaction records (국토교통부 실거래가), processed by Seoulstart. Updated monthly.
Villas and row houses (빌라) follow the same pattern. Here is the same list for villas:
| Area | Monthly rent | Deposit | Contracts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dobong-gu | ₩395,000 | ₩44.7m | 100 |
| Nowon-gu | ₩400,000 | ₩20m | 66 |
| Gangseo-gu | ₩450,000 | ₩60m | 328 |
| Geumcheon-gu | ₩460,000 | ₩50m | 103 |
| Jungnang-gu | ₩460,000 | ₩62.2m | 140 |
| Yeongdeungpo-gu | ₩460,000 | ₩50m | 144 |
| Eunpyeong-gu | ₩500,000 | ₩50m | 211 |
| Gangdong-gu | ₩500,000 | ₩59.4m | 290 |
| Guro-gu | ₩500,000 | ₩30m | 105 |
| Gwanak-gu | ₩500,000 | ₩50m | 245 |
| Yangcheon-gu | ₩515,000 | ₩40m | 158 |
| Dongjak-gu | ₩525,000 | ₩50m | 172 |
| Songpa-gu | ₩530,000 | ₩70m | 532 |
| Gangbuk-gu | ₩545,000 | ₩20m | 130 |
| Seongdong-gu | ₩550,000 | ₩25m | 60 |
| Gwangjin-gu | ₩575,000 | ₩35m | 218 |
| Jung-gu | ₩585,000 | ₩30m | 50 |
| Dongdaemun-gu | ₩590,000 | ₩10m | 137 |
| Jongno-gu | ₩600,000 | ₩20m | 92 |
| Mapo-gu | ₩600,000 | ₩20m | 266 |
| Seodaemun-gu | ₩600,000 | ₩10m | 190 |
| Seongbuk-gu | ₩600,000 | ₩20m | 153 |
| Seocho-gu | ₩740,000 | ₩50m | 200 |
| Gangnam-gu | ₩850,000 | ₩25m | 276 |
| Yongsan-gu | ₩1,000,000 | ₩30m | 92 |
Medians of contracts reported in August 2026. Rent figures are for new leases, the price someone moving in signs; where fewer than 10 new leases were reported, all leases are used. Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport real transaction records (국토교통부 실거래가), processed by Seoulstart. Updated monthly.
A district with few reported contracts shows "Too few" instead of a number. One or two contracts do not make a reliable median.
To check a district you are considering, open its page, for example Mapo-gu or Seongdong-gu. Every district has its own page at /housing/rent/<district>, such as /housing/rent/mapo-gu.
What each home type gets you
Seoul has three common rental home types. They differ in size, in how they are built and in how they are managed.
- Officetel (오피스텔): a building with a private kitchen and bath, often a studio near a station. Many people call a small officetel a one-room (원룸). Compare the sizes in the table at the top with the villa and apartment rows.
- Villa or row house (빌라): a small low-rise building, usually without a large management office. Sizes and quality vary more from building to building.
- Apartment (아파트): a unit in a larger residential complex. Complexes of this kind are the ones covered by the formal management fee rules.
For the typical size of each type, look at the "Typical size" column in the table under the answer at the top of the page. The size is the median exclusive area of the reported contracts. For a longer comparison with goshiwon rooms, read goshiwon vs officetel vs one-room.
If you want homes in a monthly budget, use the price explorer. It filters reported contracts by home type and district: officetel monthly-rent trends. To plan the whole budget around housing, read cost of living in Korea.
How a bigger deposit lowers your rent
A monthly-rent lease (월세, wolse) has two parts: a deposit (보증금) you get back when the lease ends, and monthly rent (차임). The Housing Lease Protection Act says that when you turn all or part of the deposit into monthly rent, the rent cannot exceed a legal limit.
In plain words:
- Wolse (월세): deposit plus monthly rent.
- Jeonse (전세): one deposit that you leave with the landlord for the lease term and get back in full when the lease ends. For a jeonse contract that is not registered, the law treats the jeonse money as the lease deposit.
- Half-jeonse (반전세): a market name for something in between: a large deposit and a smaller monthly rent. The Housing Lease Protection Act does not use the term.
Two districts can show the same kind of home with very different deposits. Compare the district medians for officetels:
- Seongdong-gu: rent ₩750,000, deposit ₩20m.
- Mapo-gu: rent ₩750,000, deposit ₩10m.
A larger deposit can go with a smaller monthly rent. But the homes also differ in size and location, so these two lines are not a clean trade. To compare offers fairly, add up the deposit and the rent together.
The conversion cap
The law sets a ceiling on how much rent a landlord can charge for deposit you convert. The monthly rent after conversion cannot be more than the converted amount times the lower of two yearly rates:
- 10% a year.
- The Bank of Korea base rate (기준금리) plus 2 percentage points.
The Bank of Korea base rate is 3.00% since August 27, 2026. So rule 2 gives 5.0% a year, and 5.0% is lower than 10%. The cap is 5.0% a year. This is our calculation from the two rules. The base rate changes at Bank of Korea meetings, and the cap moves with it.
Example: you convert ₩10,000,000 of deposit into rent. At most, the landlord can add ₩10,000,000 × 5.0% ÷ 12 = about ₩41,667 to the monthly rent. That is a ceiling for the conversion, not a market price.
Use the cap when a landlord offers to lower your deposit in exchange for a big rent increase. Ask for the numbers and do the sum. To compare a monthly-rent offer with a jeonse offer, use Seoulstart's jeonse vs wolse tool. To read more about how each lease type works, see wolse explained and how jeonse works.
Rent and deposit increases
Once the lease is signed, the landlord can raise the rent or deposit only once a year, and by at most 5% of the agreed amount. A city or province can set a lower cap by ordinance.
Costs to ask about on top of rent
Monthly rent is not the full monthly cost. Plan for three more items.
Management fee (관리비). In apartment complexes covered by the Multi-Family Housing Management Act, the management fee is the sum of ten monthly items: general management, cleaning, security, disinfection, elevator, home-network equipment, heating, hot water, repair and maintenance, and outsourced-management fees. The management fee rules apply to complexes of 300 or more units, of 150 or more units with an elevator or central or district heating, mixed-use buildings with 150 or more homes, and smaller complexes whose residents agree to join. Many officetels and villas fall outside these formal rules, so ask the landlord or agent what the management fee covers and how much it is before you sign.
Utilities. In managed complexes, electricity, water and gas charges are billed as usage items next to the management fee. A long-term repair reserve (장기수선충당금) is collected separately. To set up your own accounts, read the utilities setup guide.
Brokerage fee. The agent fee is a one-time cost. See the next section.
Cash you need before you move in
The deposit is the biggest upfront cost. On top of it, plan for the first month's rent and the agent fee.
Agent fee (중개보수)
Seoul sets a ceiling for housing leases by lease value. You and the agent agree the fee within the ceiling, and both sides pay their own share. For a monthly-rent lease, the lease value is the deposit plus monthly rent × 100. If that total is under ₩50 million, the value is the deposit plus monthly rent × 70.
Seoul's ceiling for leases is:
| Lease value | Ceiling rate | Fee limit |
|---|---|---|
| Under ₩50 million | 0.5% | ₩200,000 |
| ₩50 million to under ₩100 million | 0.4% | ₩300,000 |
| ₩100 million to under ₩600 million | 0.3% | none |
| ₩600 million to under ₩1.2 billion | 0.4% | none |
| ₩1.2 billion to under ₩1.5 billion | 0.5% | none |
| ₩1.5 billion or more | 0.6% | none |
Officetels of 85 m² or less with a private kitchen and bath use a flat ceiling of 0.4% for leases.
Example: an officetel with a ₩10,000,000 deposit and ₩600,000 rent. Multiply the rent by 100 and add the deposit: ₩10,000,000 + ₩60,000,000 = ₩70,000,000. That is not under ₩50 million, so the ×70 rule does not apply. At the 0.4% officetel rate, the most the agent can charge each side is ₩280,000.
Use Seoulstart's agent fee calculator to work out your own figure. To see every cost of moving in, use the move-in cost tool. Before you pay a large deposit, run the deposit safety check. For the documents to ask for, read the lease documents checklist, and for the sequence of steps, the first-month housing timeline.
Move-in report and contract date stamp
If you move in, receive the keys and register your address, your lease is protected against third parties from the next day. Move-in means registering your address. For foreign residents, the alien registration and change-of-residence report under the Immigration Act does the job of the Korean resident move-in report. A contract date stamp (확정일자) on your lease, together with move-in, gives you priority to get your deposit back if the home is auctioned.
The lease reporting rule
Leases above a set size must be reported to the local government. Those reports are where the public price data on this page comes from.
- Who and when: landlord and tenant report together within 30 days of signing. If one side refuses, the other can report alone.
- Which leases: a deposit over ₩60 million, or monthly rent over ₩300,000. Renewals with no change to deposit or rent are excluded. Every Seoul district is covered.
- Easy route for the tenant: a tenant's move-in registration counts as the lease report. For foreign residents, the alien registration and change-of-residence report stands in for it.
- What can be reported: apartments, houses, villas and row houses, residential officetels, dormitories and goshiwon, and other buildings used as a home, including factory and neighborhood-facility buildings. You can file online or at the community service center (주민센터) that covers the home. If you attach the contract, one party can file alone and the contract date stamp is given automatically.
- Penalty: failing to report can bring a fine of up to ₩300,000, and a false report up to ₩1,000,000. The grace period for fines ended in May 2025.
How to check what people paid in a building
Before you sign, look at what past tenants paid. You have two routes.
- Seoulstart's price explorer. See a building's reported contracts, month by month, before you sign. You can also look at officetel monthly-rent trends across districts.
- The government system, rt.molit.go.kr. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport publishes lease prices for reported apartments, row houses and multi-household homes, detached and multi-family houses, and officetels, from June 2021. Data is shown by contract date, and each day's reports appear the next day. The government states that the data has no legal effect and is for reference only. The site does not allow scraping or automated extraction. Look up buildings by hand.
Reported contracts are a guide, not a quote. The best thing to bring to a negotiation is a recent contract from the same building at a similar size.
Next steps
- Pick a district page from rent in Seoul and compare it with the table above.
- Read renting an apartment in Korea for the full process.
- Read where to live in Seoul to choose a neighborhood, and Seoul apartment prices if you are thinking of buying.