Historic "Lotto" Housing Lottery Overload Causes Cheongyak Home Crash: Deadline Extension Explained

Korea Real Estate Agency’s Cheongyak Home website experienced a temporary crash

On July 29th, Korea Real Estate Agency’s Cheongyak Home website experienced a temporary crash due to an unprecedented surge in applications for highly anticipated "lotto" housing lotteries. The website faced severe overload when a massive number of users attempted to apply simultaneously for lotteries at high-value properties such as 'Raemian One Pentas' in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and 'Dongtan Station Lotte Castle' in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. As a result, Korea Real Estate Agency made an unprecedented decision to extend the application deadline. Here’s a detailed look into the background of this event and its impact.

A Surge of Millions of Applicants

July 29th marked the start of the lottery application period for highly coveted properties, often referred to as "lotto" lotteries. Major properties such as 'Raemian One Pentas' in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and 'Dongtan Station Lotte Castle' in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province attracted significant attention due to their high anticipated capital gains. Particularly, Dongtan Station Lotte Castle was priced at 482 million won, significantly lower than the current market value by about 1 billion won, drawing substantial interest.

Server Overload and Extended Application Deadline

As the application process began, the Cheongyak Home website experienced severe congestion due to the simultaneous attempts of millions of users. According to Korea Real Estate Agency, there were up to 1.6 million concurrent access attempts, leading to abnormal wait times and the display of unrealistic waiting periods and queue numbers. Frustration among applicants was widespread, and in response, Korea Real Estate Agency extended the application deadlines for the affected properties. The deadline for applications for these properties was extended to 11 PM on July 29th, with the application period for Dongtan Station Lotte Castle extended to the following day.

No Impact of Application Order on Winning Odds

Korea Real Estate Agency clarified that the application process is not first-come, first-served but a lottery-based system, meaning that the order of application has no effect on winning chances. The agency also reassured that any issues caused by server overload would not affect the lottery functionality. The application and lottery systems are separate, ensuring that delays in application do not influence the lottery results.

Anticipated Capital Gains of Popular Properties

The most notable properties in this lottery were 'Raemian One Pentas' and 'Dongtan Station Lotte Castle'. 'Raemian One Pentas' has an expected price of around 230 million won for a 84㎡ unit, offering a potential capital gain of about 2 billion won compared to the neighboring 'Raemian One Bailey', which traded for 423 million won in May. Dongtan Station Lotte Castle, with its 84㎡ unit priced at 482 million won, is expected to be about 1 billion won cheaper than the current market value. Additionally, 'Hoban Summit Mokdong' is offering two units at the 2020 price of 79.863 million won, with an anticipated capital gain of approximately 500 million won.

The recent crash of the Cheongyak Home website highlights the intense interest and high expectations within the real estate market. Despite Korea Real Estate Agency's efforts to upgrade their servers, managing the simultaneous access of millions proved challenging. It is crucial to implement additional measures to prevent such issues in the future. Ensuring clear communication about the lottery system and addressing concerns about application order and winning odds will also be important. This incident underscores the need for ongoing improvements to the housing lottery system to better handle high demand.