Korean Apartment Sizes Explained: Pyeong, Exclusive and Supply Area
Why a 34-pyeong apartment has only 84 m² of living space, how pyeong converts to square meters, and how to compare Korean homes fairly.
Ask a Korean friend how big their apartment is and you'll hear something like “thirty-four pyeong”. Look at the listing and you'll see 84㎡. Both describe the same home. Here is why the numbers don't match, and how to compare sizes properly.
What is a pyeong?
A pyeong (평) is a traditional unit of area: exactly 400/121 m², about 3.3 m² or 35.6 ft². Contracts and official listings must use square meters, but people still think in pyeong. Two quick rules:
- pyeong × 3.3 ≈ square meters
- square meters × 0.3 ≈ pyeong
For exact numbers, use the pyeong ↔ m² converter.
The three areas on a Korean listing
| Term | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Exclusive area 전용면적 | The rooms, kitchen and bathrooms inside your front door. This is the space you actually live in. |
| Supply area 공급면적 | Exclusive area plus your share of the hallways, stairs and elevator on your floor and in your building. |
| Contract area 계약면적 | Supply area plus your share of other shared facilities, such as underground parking and management offices. |
When people say an apartment is “34평”, they usually mean the supply area. The exclusive area of a typical “34평” apartment is about 84 m², or 25.4 pyeong. That is the number to compare with homes in other countries.
Common sizes and what they feel like
| Exclusive area | ≈ pyeong | Typical home |
|---|---|---|
| 16–25 m² | 5–8 | Studio (원룸) or officetel for one person |
| 30–45 m² | 9–14 | Two small rooms (투룸) in a villa building |
| 59 m² | 17.8 | Small family apartment, usually 2–3 bedrooms |
| 84 m² | 25.4 | The “standard” family apartment, usually 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms |
| 114 m² and up | 34.5+ | Large apartment, 4 bedrooms |
For comparison, 84 m² is about 900 ft²: roughly a two- or three-bedroom apartment in a US city.
Balconies: the hidden extra space
Many Korean apartments have balconies that are not counted in the exclusive area. In newer buildings these are often “extended” (발코니 확장), meaning the wall was removed and the balcony became part of the living room or bedrooms. Two apartments with the same exclusive area can feel quite different depending on this.
Officetels are measured differently
For officetels, shared spaces often take a larger share of the total. A listing might show a big contract area but a much smaller exclusive area. Always look for 전용 next to the number.
Comparing prices per pyeong
Prices are often compared per pyeong (평당). For example, 평당 3천만 원 means ₩30,000,000 per pyeong. Make sure both listings use the same kind of area (usually supply area) before comparing. Need help reading the amount? Try the Man/Eok converter, and see how to read Korean rent listings.
Checklist before you visit
- Note the exclusive area in m², not just the pyeong number.
- Ask whether the balconies are extended.
- Check the floor plan (평면도) for the number of rooms and bathrooms.
- Remember that older buildings may have smaller rooms for the same area because of thicker walls and older layouts.