No Young-min, Chief of Staff to the President (left), visited Park Byeong-seok, Speaker of the National Assembly, at the Speaker's Office in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 8th. After delivering congratulatory flowers from President Moon Jae-in, they had a cordial conversation. (Photo by Yonhap News)
[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] On the 2nd, the Blue House initially announced that Noh Young-min, the Chief Secretary of the Blue House who owns two houses, would sell an apartment in Seocho-gu, Seoul, but after 50 minutes, it changed the statement to say that he would sell an apartment in Cheongju, Chungbuk, not the Seocho-gu apartment.
In the case of Cheongju, house prices surged recently due to positive factors such as the attraction of a synchrotron light source, but buying sentiment has been cooling down as the area was designated as a regulated zone under the government's June 17 real estate measures.
Industry insiders point out that Chief Secretary Noh might be trying to keep the Seoul apartment, which has a higher potential for price increase, and only sell the Cheongju apartment, where prices have peaked.
A key Blue House official told reporters that day, "Chief Secretary Noh decided to dispose of his 13.8-pyeong apartment in Banpo, Seocho-gu, Seoul," adding, "He has been trying to sell his house for some time but it was not easy, so he put it on the market as a quick sale."
However, shortly after, the Blue House corrected the statement, saying that Chief Secretary Noh decided to dispose of the "Cheongju apartment," not the Banpo apartment.
Chief Secretary Noh owns, jointly with his spouse, an apartment in Hanshin Serae Village, Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, and Jinro Apartment in Gagyeong-dong, Cheongju, Chungbuk.
In December last year, Chief Secretary Noh recommended that senior Blue House officials who own two or more houses in the metropolitan area dispose of all but one house as soon as possible unless there are unavoidable reasons.
Since he owns only one apartment in the metropolitan area, he naturally fell outside the scope of his own sale recommendation.
However, as public opinion worsened regarding multi-home Blue House aides, he hurriedly decided to sell, which seems to have caused confusion about the property to be sold that day.
In Cheongju, house prices surged after the confirmation of the synchrotron light source attraction. It is known that speculative buying was concentrated, with corporate purchases accounting for 12%, the highest level ever.
However, after the government newly designated Cheongju as a regulated area through the June 17 measures, the real estate market froze sharply. Since prices rose rapidly in a short period, there is also a possibility that the price bubble may burst soon if apartments purchased by corporations flood the market as listings.
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