KOSPI Market Cap Surpasses Greater Seoul Housing Market Value Amid AI Chip Boom

SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- The market capitalization of the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) is estimated to have surpassed the total value of the housing market in the greater Seoul area amid a stock rally led by an artificial intelligence (AI) chip boom, data showed Monday.

According to data compiled by KRX Data Marketplace, the KOSPI's market capitalization stood at 6,135 trillion won (US$4.1 trillion) as of Friday.

That compares with the estimated 4,914 trillion won value of the housing market in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area in 2024, based on the latest available data.

The total housing market value is calculated by combining the building value of residential structures with the market value of the land on which they stand.

At the end of 2024, the KOSPI's market capitalization stood at 1,963 trillion won, equivalent to only about 40 percent of the greater Seoul housing market's value at the time.

The gap has narrowed rapidly as the stock market outpaced gains in the real estate sector.

According to the Korea Real Estate Board, the capital area's housing transaction price index rose 4.4 percent in April 2026 from December 2024, while the nationwide index gained 1.9 percent over the same period.

In contrast, the KOSPI has jumped 212.5 percent over the past 1 1/2 years on the back of the semiconductor supercycle.

The broader domestic stock market has also approached the size of the country's housing market overall.

The combined market capitalization of the country's three stock indexes -- the KOSPI, the tech-heavy Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) and the Korea New Exchange (KONEX) for early-stage companies -- reached 7,204 trillion won as of Thursday, nearly matching the nation's total housing value of 7,158 trillion won as of end-2024.

Experts said government measures aimed at stabilizing the housing market and boosting the stock market, combined with the semiconductor upcycle, have accelerated the shift in liquidity toward equities.

"A significant portion of liquidity that could have flowed into the apartment market appears to have instead entered the stock market," said Kim Kwang-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Korean Economy and Industry.