{"id":40679,"date":"2019-05-15T17:15:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T08:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=40679"},"modified":"2020-01-17T09:21:27","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T00:21:27","slug":"pyongsong-apartment-market-stagnates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/pyongsong-apartment-market-stagnates\/","title":{"rendered":"Pyongsong apartment market stagnates"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Interior<\/a>
Interior of apartment on Mirae Scientists street in Pyongyang. Image: Ryugyong Clip<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amidst North Korea\u2019s trade deficits, the slowing market economy, and other indicators that the country\u2019s economy is stagnating, sources in the country report that apartment construction in some parts of North Korea has slowed. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe construction of apartments in Pyongsong has slowed down compared to the past It looks like they\u2019re being built in Okjon, Jungdok, Yangji and Eundok, but, in reality, not as many are being built as in the past,” a source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cConstruction of apartments, factories and roads typically picks up in the spring, but this year that\u2019s not the case. There\u2019s barely any apartments being built.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Donju (North Korea\u2019s nouveau riche) typically sign contracts with state agencies and provide the investment to build apartments. They can earn up to 30-40% in profit from the construction of one apartment building. <\/span><\/p>\n

Apartments have become a government-protected, profit-making racket for donju. Recently, however, donju have begun to turn their focus away from apartment construction because they believe it\u2019s not profitable anymore. <\/span><\/p>\n

International sanctions have had an impact, large and small, on the apartment construction market. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCement, metal poles, wood, gravel, and sand are required to make apartments, and these materials have not been impacted that much by sanctions,\u201d said the source. \u201cHowever, North Korea is completely reliant on the outside world for diesel and other kinds of fuel and these resources have been impacted by the sanctions.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

North Koreans have experienced a fall in purchasing power and this is considered another factor in the stagnation of the apartment construction market. Donju have been the major consumers of apartments but their lack of foreign currency means they are not buying apartments as much anymore. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are not buying apartments anymore because they don\u2019t have a lot of money to spare,\u201d the source said. \u201cAn apartment buyer typically pays for half of an apartment as its being built, but there\u2019s few people buying apartments these days.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The fall in demand for apartments has led to a fall in housing prices. \u201cHousing prices were at their most expensive from 2012 to 2016 but the prices are continuing to fall,\u201d the source said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a rise in people who are selling their own houses to acquire seed money to start their own businesses, and there\u2019s also a lot of people who have put their houses up for sale without being able to pay back the loans they took out to pay for the houses in the first place. These factors are causing housing prices to fall,\u201d said a separate source in South Pyongan Province.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFamilies who lived apart are now living together because of the lack of money to pay for separate houses, and this has been an additional factor in housing prices decreasing.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The Daily NK found that apartment prices in Pyongsong, which is the site of North Korea\u2019s largest wholesale market, had fallen by half compared to last year. <\/span><\/p>\n

Houses in Pyongsong\u2019s outskirts are going for around 5,000 USD, while those in the area\u2019s agricultural region are selling for around 1,000 USD. These prices are around half of the 8,000 USD and 2,000 USD houses in these areas were selling for last year. <\/span><\/p>\n

Pyongsong\u2019s city center has also witnessed a drastic decrease in housing prices. An apartment in Pyongsong\u2019s Yokjon district went for 100,000 USD early last year, but fell to 50,000 USD late last year and now, despite selling for 30,000 USD, nobody is buying. <\/span><\/p>\n

North Koreans are pessimistic toward the future of the apartment construction market, an additional source in the region said, concluding that “apartments will continue to be built but, at least for the time being, at a much slower rate.”<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amidst North Korea\u2019s trade deficits, the slowing market economy, and other indicators that the country\u2019s economy is stagnating, sources in the country report that apartment construction in some parts of North Korea has slowed. \u201cThe construction of apartments in Pyongsong has slowed down compared to the past It looks like they\u2019re being built in Okjon, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":40690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[645],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy"],"yoast_head":"\nPyongsong apartment market stagnates - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/pyongsong-apartment-market-stagnates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pyongsong apartment market stagnates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Amidst North Korea\u2019s trade deficits, the slowing market economy, and other indicators that the country\u2019s economy is stagnating, sources in the country report that apartment construction in some parts of North Korea has slowed. \u201cThe construction of apartments in Pyongsong has slowed down compared to the past It looks like they\u2019re being built in Okjon, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/pyongsong-apartment-market-stagnates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-15T08:15:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-17T00:21:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/\uacfc\ud559\uc790\uac70\ub9ac-\uc544\ud30c\ud2b8-\ub0b4\ubd80.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"534\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Seulkee Jang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Seulkee Jang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/pyongsong-apartment-market-stagnates\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/pyongsong-apartment-market-stagnates\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Seulkee Jang\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/194958ce83d17408851c1d378fa83857\"},\"headline\":\"Pyongsong apartment market stagnates\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-15T08:15:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-17T00:21:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/pyongsong-apartment-market-stagnates\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":640,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/pyongsong-apartment-market-stagnates\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/\uacfc\ud559\uc790\uac70\ub9ac-\uc544\ud30c\ud2b8-\ub0b4\ubd80.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/pyongsong-apartment-market-stagnates\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/pyongsong-apartment-market-stagnates\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/pyongsong-apartment-market-stagnates\\\/\",\"name\":\"Pyongsong apartment market stagnates - 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