"Lotto Distribution... Real Estate Speculation Boom" Jo Gisuk Criticizes Moon Administration's Real Estate Policy

Professor Jo Gisuk, Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Womans University. Photo by Professor Jo Gisuk SNS capture.

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] Professor Cho Gi-sook of Ewha Womans University Graduate School of International Studies, who served as the Blue House Public Relations Secretary during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, criticized the Moon Jae-in administration's real estate policy again, following her remarks in late last month, saying "the government should honestly admit the failure of its real estate policy."

On the 6th, in a post on her Facebook, Professor Cho criticized the government's mention of measures such as expanding supply and further strengthening property holding taxes, saying, "It is still difficult to find change in this solution."

She said, "It is regrettable that the expansion of supply assumes ownership as the basis," and predicted, "The sale will become a lottery sale, and ultimately assets will be polarized by luck."

In particular, she criticized the government policy, saying, "In the current situation, if the law to strengthen property holding taxes passes the National Assembly, it will restrict the speculative intentions of multi-homeowners in the long term, but it is only an expectation that properties will come onto the market immediately."

She pointed out, "Recently, the increase in house prices is tens or hundreds of times the tax, so it is natural to predict that owners will hold on by selling one house until the regime changes, and landlords will not be greatly affected by the increase in property holding taxes anyway, and properties cannot come onto the market due to contract periods."

The photo is not related to any specific expression in the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding the biggest cause of failure of the Moon Jae-in administration's real estate policy, she said, "It was the expansion of the landlord policy introduced during the Park Geun-hye administration," and added, "According to data recently submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Kim Sang-hoon, a member of the Future United Party, it was revealed that the cause of the housing price surge was not end-users but landlords."

She continued, "They created such a huge sinkhole and only diligently patched small holes," adding, "That patching tied the hands and feet of end-users, and speculators were able to walk the flower path of real estate speculation legally."

Professor Cho suggested, "Ultimately, the solution is for the government to honestly admit policy failure and sequentially cancel the registration of jeonse rental business operators whose contract periods have ended," and added, "If necessary, it is necessary to cancel the registration of jeonse rental business operators even by forgiving fines." She also said, "Public rental housing at the level of advanced countries must be secured to curb landlords' house price increases."

She added, "If a long-term blueprint that the public can trust is presented and they are appealed to share the pain for several years, the excessively risen prices of new houses will stabilize," and said, "The only way to secure rental housing in areas where people want to live is not to suppress redevelopment and reconstruction, but to present a sequential schedule and receive rental housing as donations in those areas."