If You Lived Here--Haebangchon (해방촌)

□ The village of liberation.

I first knew it as the village where Koreans who had lived abroad settled after liberation from Japanese rule (1945).

Today, it seems to attract long-term expats, creatives, and some young Korean returnees.

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□ HBC isn't an official district name.

It's more of a community name covering most of the residential area of 용산2가동 (Yongsan 2-ga) and the edge of 후암동 (Huam).

Like Little Italy or Chinatown.

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□ I knew HBC was small. Just didn't know how small.

Then I opened the map and started counting budongsan offices.

Twelve.
I honestly blinked.

Hapjeong, which is actually a bit smaller in land area, has 55.

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□ The habitat area is dense.

On paper, HBC and Hapjeong aren't that different in land size or population.

But more than half of 용산2가동 is Namsan and the former Yongsan Garrison. Which means the part where people actually live in HBC is much smaller.

It's packed pretty tight. Not with towers. With narrow lots, almost no setbacks, and houses climbing up the hillside.

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□ The terrain supports that village feeling.

Houses sit closer together. Streets are narrower. You walk more and notice more.

Hapjeong gives me the opposite feeling. Bigger buildings. Wider roads. Easier to disappear into your own routine.

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□ That probably means you'll run into the same people fairly often.

People recognize each other's faces. The coffee shop staff probably remembers your name.

In places like this, chatting with the grocery store owner, your barber, or the bartender still feels normal.

Before the twins, my wife and I used to spend a lot of evenings in HBC. We had this little routine of stopping by the same tiny grocery store for chips and dip, then chatting with the hilarious cashier for a while to hear what was going on around the neighborhood.

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□ The Naver inventory is cleaner.

Raw listings: 94
Unique listings: 55
Duplicate listings: 39 (41%)

Far fewer obvious duplicates than Itaewon. Usually a sign there's less competition among budongsan offices to advertise the same listings.

Local budongsan offices: 12
Brokerages marketing HBC listings: 26

My guess is that neighborhoods like HBC still move a meaningful number of rentals before they ever hit Naver or Dabang.

The active offices number feels closer to 10 than 26. Which means it's fairly easy to walk around, introduce yourself, and open a few relationships.

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□ All I keep seeing is 다가구.

I think there's only 1 proper apartment complex in the whole neighborhood: Eight stories. About 45 years old.

Everything else is attached homes: 다가구주택 (multi-family home), 빌라 (low-rise apartment).

The sky keeps showing up.

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□ The listings themselves look ordinary.

Median size: 29.9 sqm
Middle 50%: 18–50 sqm
Mean: 35.6 sqm, (pulled upward by a handful of larger homes)
Jeonse: 25 listings
Wolse: 30 listings
Wolse deposit/rent median: ₩25M/₩725k

Seogyo leans heavily toward tiny studios. Itaewon spreads into several different housing worlds. HBC settles around modest-sized homes.

A typical rental in HBC is around 30 sqm in 다가구 or 빌라 on a hill.

Many of the older hillside 다가구 units remain very affordable, while some of the smallest units still command relatively high prices per square meter.

25 Jun 2026

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□ Foreigners are visibly part of the ecosystem.

Some listings openly advertise for foreign roommate groups.

There are active HBC Facebook Groups for buy & sell board and community information board. I've seen some rental listings and "roommate wanted" posts there too.

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□ Elevation seems to define everything.

The higher you go toward Namsan, the more stairs, the narrower the alleys, the more disconnected cars become.

Carrying grocery bags on the stairs or ramps won't be fun...

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□ Access to Namsan is super easy and nice.

But that's because I like my daily walk.

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□ The village has a center and a front door.

Locals seem to orbit around:

• 해방촌 오거리 (the main intersection)
• 신흥시장 (the market)

Visitors usually enter through the south end of 신흥로, walking up from 경리단길 or 녹사평역.

Small businesses seem to have adapted to that flow.

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□ Noksapyeong station isn't exactly next door.

People often associate HBC with 녹사평 station.

It’s definitely not “next door.”
Village bus or 20 minute walk to the station.

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□ Not quite Itaewon.

I wonder how many people enjoy an evening in Itaewon, then walk back up the hill to Haebangchon.

1 Jul 2026

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