Joo Ho-young "Is the Angry Public Sentiment Being Addressed by Officials Selling Their Homes?" Reacts Angrily

Demand for Multi-Homeowners to Sell Expands from Government and Ruling Party to Opposition
"Not All Multi-Homeowners Are Speculators"... United Party Launches Fierce Attack on Government Measures

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] The controversy over multiple home ownership involving senior government officials and ruling party lawmakers, who have declared stronger regulations on multi-homeowners, has spread across the political sphere, prompting the United Future Party to react strongly.

On the 9th, Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the United Future Party, attended an emergency committee meeting at the National Assembly and sharply criticized, saying, "I suspect that this real estate measure is an attempt to resolve the public anger over the failure of real estate policies by forcing public officials to dispose of their homes."

He continued, "I don't know how many houses public officials own, but even if they sell them, with loans being regulated, people without huge cash reserves cannot buy homes. Isn't this situation completely obvious?" As pressure mounted for the United Future Party to also participate in disposing of multiple homes, they counterattacked, accusing the ruling party of trying to muddy the issue.

Joo also appeared on MBC Newsdesk the previous day, stating, "In the regions, there was criticism that local representatives did not even have homes, but now they are criticized for owning two houses," adding, "A district lawmaker needs two houses, one in Seoul and one in their district, so owning two houses should not be a target of criticism." During the process of changing his constituency for this general election, Joo sold his house in Daegu and currently owns one house in Seoul.

These remarks by Floor Leader Joo emphasize that the situations of the Democratic Party of Korea and the United Future Party, which gained votes through pledges in the general election, are different. They are interpreted as an attempt to counter-criticize the Moon Jae-in administration by arguing that senior government officials are trying to impose policies on the public that they themselves do not accept.

The United Future Party has continuously criticized the government and ruling party's efforts to strengthen regulations on multi-homeowners through measures such as tax increases. Their stance is largely framed as "labeling all multi-homeowners as speculators."

Yoon Hee-sook, the party's Economic Innovation Committee Chairperson, said at a meeting with reporters the day before, "Are all multi-homeowners speculators?" She added, "Many people maintain two households while commuting between the provinces and Seoul, and if you look closely, they are ordinary people." Floor Leader Joo also said, "Owning houses not for residence purposes is problematic," adding, "Necessary housing should be recognized, but cases aimed at wealth accumulation should be criticized and addressed through legislation."

Yoon specifically explained that owning two houses for practical reasons such as work, buying a house outside the metropolitan area for rental business, or purchasing a summer house for family use should not be lumped into the speculative category and regulated as such.

Yoon said, "In a situation where it is difficult to find alternative investments and liquidity flows into real estate investment, it is hard to see the effect of excessive demand suppression measures. We need to open paths for money to flow." She added, "The areas in Seoul where housing prices have risen the fastest are indeed overheated by speculation, but conversely, they are also places where people want to live. Regulations should be eased so that many houses can be built in desirable areas like Gangnam, Yongsan, Seocho, and Seongdong."