Housing costs across North Korea have surged two to four times their pre-pandemic levels, squeezing young couples out of the property market and prompting many to delay marriage altogether.
“Compared to before COVID-19, house prices in Hamhung have risen two to three times,” a source in South Hamgyong province told Daily NK on Thursday. “There are quite a few young couples who want to live separately from their parents, but the financial burden of housing has grown so large that starting their own household is not easy.”
According to the source, housing prices in Hamhung have climbed steadily throughout 2026. The increase does not appear to be driven by a sudden spike in demand, but rather by broader inflationary pressures including a falling North Korean won, driven by a rising foreign currency exchange rate, and higher prices for food and daily necessities.
A 70-square-meter apartment in central Hamhung now trades at around $50,000, compared to roughly $18,000 before the pandemic, an increase of nearly 2.8 times. Single-story homes on the city’s outskirts, commonly called “ground houses,” have also risen, from a range of $2,000 to $7,000 before the pandemic to $3,000 to $10,000 now, an increase of roughly 1.5 times. The more modest rise on the periphery reflects weaker demand relative to downtown properties.
With prices having roughly doubled and continuing to climb, young couples who are about to marry or have recently done so are giving up on homeownership. Most are resorting to living with parents or renting space in someone else’s home. In North Korea, this rental arrangement, known as “donggeo,” involves paying a monthly fee to live in a portion of another household’s residence, functioning similarly to month-to-month renting.
Widening gap between wealthy and ordinary North Korean people
Similar conditions are being reported in Hyesan, the provincial capital of Ryanggang province near the Chinese border. “Starting with the exchange rate, prices have been rising so fast that housing costs have shot up too,” a source in Ryanggang province told Daily NK. “Areas slightly outside the city center haven’t seen as sharp a rise, but most homes in the urban core have gone up significantly.”
The Hyesan figures are particularly striking. A downtown apartment that sold for 70,000 Chinese yuan (approximately $9,600) in 2020 has jumped to around 300,000 Chinese yuan (approximately $41,000) since the second half of last year, a more than fourfold increase. Ground houses located roughly several kilometers outside the city center have risen more modestly, from 10,000 to 15,000 Chinese yuan (approximately $1,370 to $2,060) in 2020 to 15,000 to 20,000 Chinese yuan (approximately $2,060 to $2,740) now, an increase of roughly 1.3 to 1.5 times.
The surge in downtown Hyesan apartment prices is more than four times the pre-pandemic level, while outlying properties have seen a comparatively modest rise.
The rising market is widening an already pronounced class divide. Donju, North Korea’s class of private entrepreneurs and market traders who accumulated capital through informal commercial activity, bought up housing stock in prior years and are now reaping windfall gains. Meanwhile, ordinary young North Korean people face an increasingly unaffordable market.
“In the past, couples would save up together, or whichever side of the family had the means would help buy a home,” the South Hamgyong source said. “But now, with incomes not keeping up and housing prices rising sharply, buying a home is getting harder and harder.”
The Ryanggang source drew the contrast clearly: “Donju children get help from their parents and can find a place to live, while children from ordinary families end up renting someone else’s space. The gap between classes is becoming more and more visible.”
As demand for rental arrangements among young couples grows, the monthly cost of those arrangements has also risen, particularly in Hyesan. Some young North Korean people are now putting off marriage entirely because they cannot afford even the rental option.
“Once housing prices go up, they tend not to come back down easily,” the Ryanggang source said. “In the end, rising housing costs are widening the gap between the donju and ordinary people, and making it harder for the younger generation to even get married.”
Reporting from inside North Korea
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May 7, 2026 at 03:38PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)