Concepts of Actual Home Area That Real Estate Beginners Often Miss

Source:

https://www.dmitory.com/issue/194763367

One of the most common things people who have never bought a home don't understand is the "concept of home size."

Currently, area calculation in Korea consists of the following 7 steps:

1. Exclusive Area (Private Area): The area of the space where I actually reside. (Recent apartment subscriptions all refer to the exclusive area. "Exclusive 59" or "Exclusive 84" refers to this.)

> This includes the area of the bathroom, rooms, living room, kitchen, etc.

2. Common Area: The area of the space where I do not actually reside.

This common area is further divided into:

'Residential Common Area / Other Common Area.'

3. Residential Common Area: The area of the space shared for residential purposes.

> This includes stairs, elevators, lobbies, hallways, etc.

4. Supply Area: When you look at Naver or Hogangnono, you see "25 pyeong" or "32 pyeong," right? The standard for that is the supply area.

Supply area is calculated as the sum of 'Exclusive Area + Residential Common Area.'

5. Other Common Area: The area of shared spaces that are not used for direct living.

> This includes the basement, management office, senior center, parking lot, etc.

6. Contract Area: The total area that I actually own.

> The sum of 'Exclusive Area + Common Area (both residential and other)' becomes the contract area.

7. Service Area: Area that is 'not included in 1–6, but can be used for living.'

> Balconies are the representative example.

So...

While what you see on Hogangnono is the 'Supply Area,'

the actual 'size of the space I live in is determined by Exclusive Area + Service Area.'

Let's look at a few examples.

-> This home is Exclusive 60 / Supply 76.

But since the service area is 17.02, the 'actual size of the living space is 77.02.'

You can think of this as a 2-bay base, which was the standard for typical 1990s apartments.

-> This home is Exclusive 59.97 (essentially 60) / Supply 86.25.

Since the exclusive area is the same, isn't the actual space a wash?..

No, it's not..

The trend for apartments in the 2000s shifted to '3-bay,' and from this era, balcony expansion became legal. This caused a major shift in service areas.

For this home, Exclusive 59.97 + Service 30.31 = the actual living space is 90.28.

The home above and the home below are both in the 'same Exclusive 59 line,' but the actual sizes are 77 and 90... a difference of more than 10%.

Of course, apartments built after 2010 started using '4-bay,' and the service area 'increased even further.'

Amazing....

Now, as a bonus... one of the reasons 'why apartments are more expensive' is this:

This is a 34-pyeong residential-commercial complex (jupok) built in the 2010s.

The exclusive area is 84.26, and the supply area is 112.7 (since the supply is 112.7, it's a whopping 34 pyeong!!).

Something seems off, right?

Yes, there is virtually no service area.

One reason why apartments are more expensive than officetels or residential-commercial complexes of the same size—besides the management fees—is the "cheat code" called 'Service Area.'

The same supply area does not mean the same size..

In other words, the '26-pyeong apartment with Exclusive 59.97 and Supply 86' shown above,

and the '34-pyeong residential-commercial complex with Exclusive 84.26 and Supply 112.7'

have almost the same actual living space.

...

That's why among the three examples, the first is closer to the station, the second is further, and the third has a larger pyeongage, but all three are priced similarly..

I'm sharing this as a tip because I see people with less real estate knowledge getting very confused when reading real estate posts..

A common mistake people who don't know homes well make is 'looking only at the supply pyeongage' and asking, "Why is a 17-pyeong apartment more expensive than a 25-pyeong villa?"..

In reality, apartments are much larger than other housing types due to the service area...

As shown in the example, a typical 25-pyeong apartment usually has a size comparable to other housing types of around 32 pyeong.

Source: https://cafe.daum.net/subdued20club/LxCT/337656