The actual transaction prices of apartments in Seoul posted a record fall of over 20 percent last year due largely to rising interest rates.

According to the Korea Real Estate Board on Thursday, the actual transaction prices of apartment units in the capital city dropped 22-point-09 percent in 2022, the biggest margin since the agency began compiling related data in 2006.

Transaction prices fell every month in 2022 with the exception of March, April and June, when expectations rose over real estate deregulation under a new government.

The rate of decline, which stayed under one percent in the beginning of 2022, jumped to between three and six percent from July when the central bank took a "big step" of raising the key interest by zero-point-five percentage points.

The nation's actual apartment transaction price index also dropped at a record rate last year of 16-point-84 percent.