With a record-low of about ten-thousand households expected to move into new apartments in Seoul next year, competition to attract home buyers will likely heat up.

Real estate database Real Estate 114 forecast Saturday that ten-thousand-921 apartments in Seoul will receive new occupants next year, based on accumulated occupancy data through Friday.

The number was the lowest since the agency began compiling relevant data in 2000 and just one-third of this year's total of 32-thousand-795 units. The previous low was 20-thousand-336 units in 2011.

With new occupancies also expected to fall in nearby Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, the volume in the greater Seoul area is forecast at just 147-thousand-280 units next year, the first time since 2016 that the number has fallen since 2016.

Industry insiders warn that the steep drop in new housing could lead to overheating in the apartment subscription market.