Accommodation in Seoul

As an economic powerhouse Seoul has a wide range of accommodation options available. Renting property in South Korea can nonetheless be considerably more complicated than doing so in western countries. Thus, employers often try to organise housing for expats before they arrive. They will usually find an apartment a short distance or commute from your office.

Most accommodation in Seoul comes in the form of towering apartment block ‘cities’. Four to eight apartment blocks will be clustered together and most will have a small communal playgrounds or recreational areas along with parking facilities.

Some of the better areas in Seoul are south of the Han River, for example Gangnam, Apgujeong and Jamsil. These tend to be more expensive than the areas on the northern side. Other areas include Yongsan, Itaewon, Noksapyeong, Bundang, and Hannam-dong, where a lot of the diplomatic community resides.

Renting an apartment requires a lot of time, energy and usually a helpful Korean-speaking colleague or friend to handle negotiations and lease agreements. Koreans use a ‘key money’ system. Key money is similar to a deposit, except that the larger your key money amount, the smaller the monthly rent will be. Many Koreans choose to pay a huge amount in key money and, in doing so, they are not charged monthly rent.

Such a variant system can prove frustrating to expats; it is therefore a wise idea to insist that your employer either organises your accommodation for you, or agrees to pay a set amount of key money for an apartment of your choice.

Most apartments will come furnished with a few basic necessities: stove, refrigerator and washing machine.