What is jeonse?
Jeonse (전세) is a Korean lease with no monthly rent. The tenant hands the landlord a large deposit, usually for two years, and gets all of it back at the end. The landlord earns by investing or using that money in the meantime.
41% of new apartment leases in Seoul from Jul 2026 to Sep 2026 were jeonse. For a 40–70 m² apartment the median jeonse deposit was $348K, against $1,008/mo monthly rent with a typical $54K deposit.
Tenants can generally renew once, with the increase capped at 5%. The main risk is getting the deposit back; tenants check the property register, register their address and get a fixed date (확정일자) on the contract, and look into deposit guarantee insurance. Registered foreign residents get the same protection by reporting their new address (체류지 변경신고).
Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport transaction records (data.go.kr), converted at the Bank of Korea (ECOS) KRW/USD rate on each contract date. Processed by AptDollar.