How much does it cost to set up an empty one-room?

Empty in Korea usually does mean empty — bare floor, no appliances, sometimes not even a light fitting. Budget 800,000 to 1,500,000 won to set up a one-room from nothing, and understand that this is why most students should not take an empty place for a single year.

Rough new prices:

- Bed frame and mattress: 200,000 to 400,000. Many students skip the frame and use a mattress on the floor, which is completely normal here.
- Small fridge: 150,000 to 250,000.
- Washing machine: 250,000 to 400,000.
- Desk and chair: 100,000 to 200,000.
- Everything else — bedding, kitchen basics, drying rack, lamp, curtains: 150,000 to 250,000.

Second hand is very much a thing and it is the right answer for a one-year stay:

1. Danggeun Market (당근마켓) is the dominant local app. Neighbourhood-based, cheap, often free if someone is moving out and needs it gone today. This is where most students furnish a room.

2. Facebook groups for foreigners in Seoul — students leaving at the end of a semester sell entire rooms of furniture at once. February and August are the best months to buy for exactly this reason.

3. Used appliance shops (중고가전) will deliver and install a fridge and washing machine for a fraction of new. Delivery and installation is the part worth paying for.

4. Daiso for everything small. Genuinely covers kitchen basics, storage and cleaning supplies for under 50,000 won total.

The honest recommendation: for a one-year stay, take a furnished or semi-furnished place even at 50,000 to 80,000 won more per month. Over twelve months that is 600,000 to 960,000 won — about what the furniture costs — and you avoid buying it, moving it, and selling it at a loss when you leave.

If you do buy, buy in the last two weeks of the previous semester when everyone is leaving. Timing is most of the saving.