The polarization of apartment prices in Seoul intensifies..."If you buy the top 20% 1 unit, you'll buy the bottom 5.5 units".

The gap between the top 20% and the bottom 20% of apartment prices in Seoul has widened to the highest level ever.

According to KB Kookmin Bank's monthly housing time series, the quintile ratio, which divides the top 20% average of apartment prices in Seoul by the bottom 20% average, stood at 5.5 last month, the highest ever since the December 2008 statistical survey.

A quintile magnification of 5.5 means that you can buy an average of 5.5 apartments in the bottom 20% at the price of one apartment in the top 20%.The polarization between apartments seems to have intensified as prices have risen significantly mainly in high-priced apartments in popular areas due to the preference for

's 'one smart house'.

The nation's apartment quintile ratio continued to be 10.93, the largest gap ever, which means that the top 20% of apartments can buy nearly 11 lower 20% apartments.

In the aftermath of the fall in local apartment prices, the national average price of the first quintile recorded 116.72 million won last month, down 0.1% from the previous month, but the average price of the fifth quintile was 1.276.23 billion won, up 0.6% from the previous month.

Meanwhile, as of the third quarter, Seoul's ratio of housing prices to household income and PIR fell from 10.3 in the second quarter, recording 9.8 based on the middle third quartile.

A PIR of 9.8 means that the middle class needs to save 9.8 years without spending a single penny of their salary to get a mid-priced house.

The national benchmark PIR also fell to 4.5 in the third quarter from 4.7 in the second quarter, apparently due to a sharp increase in household income in the third quarter.