The Nation's First 'Middle-Class Rental Housing' to Be Established in Gwanggyo New Town

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The nation's first middle-class rental housing will be introduced in Gwanggyo New Town, Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.

Gyeonggi Urban Innovation Corporation announced on the 26th that the proposal to replace existing sale housing with the nation's first middle-class rental housing pilot project in Yeongtong, Gwanggyo New Town, Suwon, has passed the Gyeonggi Provincial Council plenary session.

The middle-class rental housing project by Gyeonggi Urban Innovation Corporation aims to supply rental housing where non-homeowners can live stably for 20 years, in order to reduce problems such as increased household debt due to excessive loans and the concentration of benefits in the sale housing market to a few through lottery sales. This project was reflected in Gyeonggi Province's 2020 Comprehensive Housing Plan.

Residents can use various high-quality residential services such as meals, cleaning, and care, along with convenient and pleasant infrastructure in Gwanggyo New Town, at a low rent level of about 90% of the surrounding jeonse market price.

The project site is the former courthouse and prosecutor's office site (Block A17) within Gwanggyo New Town, supplying a total of 549 households, including 482 units of 84㎡ exclusive area and 67 units of 74㎡. Among these, 20% will be specially supplied to youth, newlyweds, and the elderly, and the rest will be supplied to members of non-homeowner households.

This project, promoted as a REITs project under the public-supported private rental housing method through land bidding according to the Private Rental Housing Act, will select a private business operator in the second half of this year and start construction in the first half of 2021.

Resident recruitment will take place in 2023.

Gyeonggi Urban Innovation Corporation provides an overview of the project and major inquiries in a Q&A format on its website for the convenience of interested customers.

Lee Heon-wook, president of Gyeonggi Urban Innovation Corporation, emphasized, "We will not only ensure the smooth supply of 41,000 public rental housing units promised by the 7th Gyeonggi Province administration but also continuously supply middle-class rental housing targeting the demand segment for sale housing to expand the entire rental housing market." He added, "Through middle-class rental housing, we aim to eliminate negative perceptions and discrimination against rental housing and create an opportunity to view housing no longer as a means of asset accumulation but as a means of residence."